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Nathalie’s Chum 


BY 

ANNA CHAPIN RAY 

Author of “ Teddy y Her Bookf “ Phebe^ Her Profession^ 
“ Teddy^ Her Daughter f etc. 


ILLUSTRATED BY 
ELLEN BERNARD THOMPSON 



BOSTON 

LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 

1902 


"the library of 

COr^GRESS, 

T'»<0 CoPfKB Recsived 

SEP. ty 1902 

pOPVPtlHT ENTRY 

ijiL /-^^/^OT- 
CUARS CVXXa No. 

1 ^ 1 

CX)I«Y B. 



Copyright^ igo2y 

By Little, Brown, and Company. 

All rights reserved 

Published September, 1902 


. * « 


• 4 

• • 
« 

• 4 


HUBLBT PRINTINO 00. L‘T’D. 
TYPESETTERS AND ELBOTROTYPBRS 
YORK. PA.. U. a A. 


“ PROEM 


“ To be honest, to be kind — 

To earn a little and to spend a little less, 

To make upon the whole a family happier for his 
presence — 

To keep a few friends.” 

Robert Louis Stevenson. 


V 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Nathalie Frontispiece ^ 

“‘I’m not a child, even if I am only fifteen ’ ” Page 21 
“ On this couch, Peggy lay in tranquil slumber ” „ 61 

“ For a time, her eyes were as busy as her ears ” „ 119 • 

“ ‘ What shall I sing, Mikie?’ she asked” . . „ 214 ^ 

“ ‘ We ’ll play twice round, to-day,’ Nathalie said 


250 




Nathalie’s Chum 


OHAPTEE ONE 

“Oh, merciful, meacious my ! 

This life is nothing but one huge pie. 

“ A /T INCE PIE, too ! ” Nathalie added, 
-LVX while she snapped the creases out 
of a pink chambray skirt, preparatory to fold- 
ing it. ‘‘ My pie is all meat and apple, though, 
with a dreadfully skimpy amount of spice and 
plums, just like all the other pies that Aunt 
Bella turns out. Anyway, it is chopped into 
small enough pieces.” 

She put the skirt into an open trunk beside 
her, went to her bureau and took up a box of 
ribbons which she upset into her lap and 
started to sort over. For a time, there was 
no sound but the creak of her weak-kneed 
rocking-chair and the hiss of her fingers 
rubbing along the bright ribbons. Then she 
began to talk to herself again. 


2 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“It isn’t that I am sorry to leave Aunt 
Bella and Mildred and this house. It’s not 
that a bit. I’ve had a good enough time 
here, this last year. Even Chesterton is bet- 
ter than boarding-school; and Aunt Bella is 
well enough, even if she does remind one of 
The Dead March in Naul, What can you 
expect of a woman whose favorite hymn-tune 
is Naomi f I devoutly hope that Harry isn’t 
given to being low in his mind. I should 
think he would be now, poor fellow, when 
he faces the prospect before him. I wonder 
how it will feel to have a brand-new brother.” 
She twisted her mouth into a knot. “Let’s 
see ! Harry is twenty -six. I am fifteen, and 
he hasn’t seen me for four years. Hm ! The 
chances are that he will treat me like a baby, 
and try to make me toe a chalk-line. Well, I 
'just won’t ; that’s all there is about it, and he 
can take it out in trying. I wish I had some 
idea what he is like.” 

She tossed the last of the ribbons back into 
the box, and then picked up a letter which lay 
on the floor beside her, a letter worn thin by 
frequent readings. Already she knew it by 
heart; but she went through it again from 
end to end with a careful scrutiny which 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


3 


missed no detail of the minute handwriting. 
As she folded the sheet, she sucked in her 
breath and shook her head, while the dimples 
came into her brown cheeks. 

“ That little, pinched-up writing looks a 
good deal as if he knew what he was about, 
and he signs himself in full, Henry Myers 
Arterburn. Old Mr. Prim ! Probably he 
will want me to call him Brother Henry. 
Oh, come in, Mildred.” Her soliloquy ended 
abruptly, as she raised her eyes to see a white 
figure standing on the threshold. 

Mildred came forward, brush in hand, and 
perched herself on the foot of the bed. 

“ I just thought I would come in to take a 
last look at you,” she remarked as she un- 
braided her long brown hair. 

‘‘ Oh, don’t ! I hate last things,” Nathalie 
said tragically. 

“ But I thought you wanted to go.” 

“I do, and then again, I don’t. I’ve just 
grown used to living in Chesterton, and I hate 
to pull myself up by the roots and plant my- 
self somewhere else. Besides, Mildred ” 

“ Well?” 

‘‘ I shall miss you.” 

^‘Glad of it,” said Mildred flatly. “We 


4 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


have had some good times together, but they 
are about over, if I have to go to Boston to 
school, next month. I rather envy you. Just 
think of living in New York! ” 

“Just think of living with all those chil- 
dren ! ” [N’athalie retorted. 

“ Yes, I know ; but ISTew York ! ” 

“ Yes, I do know. New York is well 
enough ; but this setting up housekeeping 
with a stranger brother and three rampaging 
children all in one-story rooms on top of an 
elevator ! ” Nathalie’s face was as disconso- 
late as her words were chaotic. 

“ I’ve never seen the children,” Mildred 
said, as she methodically parted her hair and 
attacked one of the portions with her brush. 

“ Neither have I, for three years. That is 
the worst of family break-ups, the dropping 
apart for a while, and then the trying to 
patch the fragments together again. I’m 
their sister, and they know it ; but that 
doesn’t make us any the less strangers. From 
all that I can find out, though, Peggy and 
Kalph are plain, every-day terrors, but Fiz- 
zums is what they call an angel-child, babbles 
about heaven till everybody is off his guard 
and then, when the coast is clear, gets into 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


5 


the worst kind of mischief. He is the child 
who fed two loaves of angel cake to the hens, 
so they could fly up into the sky and see 
God.” 

Mildred began on the other side of her 
hair. 

“There’s one comfort; you won’t have to 
manage him,” she suggested consolingly. 

“ Don’t be too sure it is a comfort. Have 
you ever seen Cousin Eudora ? ” 

Mildred shook her head. 

“ Ho ? She is preposterous, utterly pre- 
posterous.” Hathalie emphasized her words 
by hurling three or four pairs of stockings 
into her trunk. “ She diddles when she walks, 
and she wears a fall of curls and gaiter-boots, 
at least she did when I saw her last. She 
sounds her S’s, too, and hisses like one of these 
peanut-roasting machines. Mildred, I know 
I shall die of her ! ” She laughed ; but it was 
evident that the tears were near the surface, 
and Mildred judged it would be well to change 
the subject. 

“ Is all your packing done ? ” 

“ Ho ; not nearly. I couldn’t bear to begin, 
and now I am so late about it that I am 
tumbling things into my trunks, any which 


6 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


way. Do help me fold these gowns, and then 
I can fill up the corners with odds and ends.” 

Mildred slid off the bed and went to peer 
into the nearer trunk. 

“ Nathalie Arterburn ! Your rainy-day shoes 
are in the very middle of your best gown. 
What would mamma say ? ” 

“ That I was a child of wrath,” Nathalie 
responded tranquilly. Straighten things out 
a little, you dear, orderly soul ; and don’t you 
dare to tell any tales. Which is my most be- 
coming hat ? ” 

“ Your blue one. Why ? ” 

“Because I intend to pack the others and 
wear that.” 

“ You’ll be sure to ruin it,” Mildred objected 
practically. 

“ I don’t care if I do. I am determined to 
make a good appearance, when I show myself 
to Henry Myers Arterburn, for he will need 
all the encouragement he can get, poor soul ! 
Imagine yourself coming home from Europe, 
to be changed all at once from a cocky young 
student to a staid old family man, and to be 
confronted by me and a whole John-Eogers 
family group of children ! Do you suppose he 
will attempt to buy their stockings and hats 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


1 


and things?” She giggled nervously; then 
of a sudden her head went down among the 
pillows and she began to sob. 

It was only a short interval before she sat 
up again suddenly. 

“ I’m a goose, Mildred ; but at least you will 
admit you never saw me do that before. I^ow 
do go to bed. I’ll finish in the morning; 
there will be plenty of time before the man 
comes for the trunks. I am sleepy now, and 
I truly wish you would go.” 

Her cousin hesitated irresolutely. She was 
a little skeptical in regard to this sudden 
drowsiness, and she was tempted to offer a 
sympathetic word ; but Nathalie took her by 
the shoulders and turned her out of the room. 

At that same hour, two young men were 
tramping the deck of a home-coming steamer. 
The full moon was whitening the crests of the 
waves around them; but they were heedless 
of moon and wave, while they let their talk 
wander from the future before them backward 
over the past eight years of student life which 
had bound them so closely together. Already 
the four years at Yale and the four years in 
Germany were growing vague in the distance. 
Sandy Hook would be sighted, early the next 


8 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


day, and then it would be only a question of 
hours until the width of half the continent 
should lie between them. Under such con- 
ditions, the past was more to them than any 
future, however broad and brilliant. 

Suddenly the slighter, more lithe one of 
them pushed his hair back from his forehead 
with a little impatient gesture. 

“ I can’t get used to it, myself. I suppose 
we all find it hard to settle into harness ; but 
it does seem to me that my harness has an un- 
common number of straps to it.” 

His companion understood him without ex- 
planation. 

“ Will they be waiting for you ? ” he asked. 

“Ho; I shall have a week, before they ap- 
pear. That will give me time to lay in a 
supply of flour and soap and such truck.” 

“ Is the apartment furnished ? ” 

“ Yes, Mrs. Myers advised that. All the old 
things were sold out, when the house went, 
and she thought we’d better not buy more till 
we found out just what we wanted. She 
chose this place for us. It is fully furnished, 
and we can go into it at any minute. All I 
have to do, is to get some stuff to eat.” 

His friend laughed. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


9 


‘‘ I’d like to watch your early exploits as a 
family man, Hal. Who will housekeep, you 
or your sister ? ” 

“ Neither of us. We have a spooky old 
cousin coming down to cook and look out for 
the children and play propriety generally. 
Her name is Eudora Evelina Shaw, and she is 
a Christian Scientist ; but she will answer the 
purpose. I am afraid Nathalie may find her 
rather trying ; but it was the best I could do.” 

“It is barely possible that she may find 
your sister trying. How old is she ? ” 

“ Sixty plus, or so.” 

“ Your sister ? ” 

“ No ; Eudora Evelina. Nathalie is some- 
where near fifteen. There were three chil- 
dren between us, but they died.” 

“ And there are three little ones ; aren’t 
there ? ” 

“ Yes, three. Peggy is ten, Ealph a little 
older, and Frank is four. He was born just 
before we went abroad. Think of the 
changes, since we left home ! ” 

For a time, they paced the deck in silence. 
Their thoughts were busy with the genial 
man and his dainty, gracious wife whose 
presence had added so much to the enjoyment 


10 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


of their commencement week. Less than a 
year later, an epidemic of typhoid had done 
its merciless work ; and, far away in Germany, 
Harry Arterburn had learned that his old 
home must be given up, his orphan brothers and 
sisters scattered among more distant relatives. 
He had braced himself bravely to meet the 
shock. The tragedy had come ; it would have 
been unwise to go home then. He could only 
accustom himself to the thought of his loss, 
and then bend all his energies to the com- 
pletion of his study, to his preparation for 
meeting the new responsibilities which would 
face him upon his return to America. A boy 
of twenty-three, alone in a foreign university, 
does not find it altogether easy to go through 
such an experience; and, during the few 
months which followed his first sorrow, Harry 
Arterburn lost much of the exuberant fun 
that had made him one of the leaders of his 
college class. 

It was he who broke the silence. 

‘‘ I wrote to Nathalie that she’d better start, 
to-morrow, and accumulate the little ones on 
her way down. They are in Vermont with 
my mother’s people, and Nathalie has been 
spending the last year with my father’s sister 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


11 


in Maine. They all will be in New York by 
the first of next week.” 

“You don’t mean you expect that fifteen- 
year-old girl to pilot three children from Ver- 
mont to New York ? ” 

“ Why not ? ” 

“It strikes me that you have put a good 
deal of responsibility on her. She is nothing 
but a child, herself.” 

“ Fifteen. I had been a year at Andover, 
when I was fifteen.” 

“ Yes ; but boys are more self-reliant. Still, 
fifteen is a very uncertain quantity. She may 
be a baby, and she may be a woman. You 
can never tell. She may look up to you as to 
a fond parent ; she may lord it over you with 
a rod of iron. Knowing you, I rather incline 
to the latter opinion. But, Hal ” 

“ Yes?” 

“ How are you going to be fixed for 
money ? ” his friend asked rather hurriedly. 
“You won’t need to worry about that; will 
you ? Because, if you will, I can straighten 
that out, or the governor can.” 

“No. I am grateful to you, and all that ; 
but we shall get on. There 'was something 
from the estate, and my salary from the 


12 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


university will help it out. I wish we needn’t 
live in J^ew York; but we shall do it simply, 
without any servant. Of course it will take 
something to run a family of five ; but we shall 
manage, somehow or other. I am hoping to 
get a little tutoring to do, and that will help.” 

There was a short pause. Then his friend 
burst out impatiently, — 

“ It’s a beastly shame, Hal, to have a fellow 
like you hampered by being turned into a 
domestic ways and means committee. Isn’t 
there anybody else to look out for those in- 
fernal children? If you were free to do as 
you choose, you would arrive, within three 
years.” 

Maybe,” Harry retorted philosophically. 
“ Unfortunately, I’m not exactly free. How- 
ever, it might be worse. I don’t answer for 
the little ones ; but I have a general notion 
that, inside a year, I shall be thanking my 
lucky stars I have a sister like Nathalie. 
Meanwhile, I am going to bed. I must get up 
early and decide whether to buy baking pow- 
der or yeast first, and whether bar soap or 
pulverized is the more efiicacious. You needn’t 
come yet; you’re not a householder, but I 
must have my beauty sleep. Good-night.” 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


13 


CHAPTER TWO 

“ ]V TATHALIE!” 

“Yes?” 

“ Nathalie ! ” 

“ Well ? ” 

“ Nathalie ! ” This time, the voice was im- 
perious. 

“ What is it ? ” 

“ Why didn’t you answer me before ? ” 

“I did.” 

“ No ; you didn’t.” 

“I called three times, Peggy. When you 
want something, I wish you would come here, 
not stand and shout from afar.” 

Peggy waived that question. 

“ Where is my book ? ” 

“What book?” 

“ The history, of course. I can’t find it.” 

“ Perhaps Ralph has it,” Nathalie suggested. 
“No; he hasn’t. I asked him. I wish 
you’d hunt it up.” Peggy’s tone was grow- 
ing dangerously near to a whine. 


14 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“ I can’t, Peggy. I’m busy.” 

“ What are you doing ? ” 

“ Unpacking Harry’s books.” 

Peggy appeared on the threshold, dangling 
her hat in her hand. 

‘‘That’s always the way,” she grumbled. 
“ People are so busy doing things for some- 
body else that they can’t ever do anything for 
me. I wanted Cousin Eudora to pin my belt 
together in the back, and she was washing 
dishes and wouldn’t ; and now you’re so busy 
with all Harry’s books that you won’t look 
for just one of mine. ’Tisn’t fair.” 

“ But, Peggy ” 

“Oh, you needn’t, if you don’t want to. 
I can help myself.” And Peggy, her chin in 
the air, stalked out of the room. Outside the 
door, she paused long enough to administer 
her final rebuke. “ I did think it would be 
nice to have a sister to love me ; but now I’m 
not so sure of it. Some day, you’ll wish you 
had.” 

It was still early in the day, and Nathalie’s 
temper was unrufiled. Accordingly, she 
laughed unfeelingly, and went on with her 
work. Ten minutes later, there came another 
interruption. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


15 


“I^athaliel Oh, ISTathalie! Where are 
you ? ” 

“ In the parlor, Ealph.” 

Instinctively she ducked her head and drew 
in her breath, as Ealph swept down upon her. 
The past week had served to make the brother 
and sister close friends ; but not all the affec- 
tion in creation could conceal the fact that 
Ealph’s embraces were occasionally rather ex- 
uberant. Now he dashed into the room, col- 
lided with a pile of books, stumbled over the 
debris of a packing-box and then cast himself 
down at Nathalie’s side. 

“ Oh, but Peggy is jolly cross ! ” he observed. 

Nathalie laughed. 

‘‘I suspected something of the kind. She 
was here, only a minute ago. What is the 
matter ? ” 

‘‘School. Hal says we must start in, to- 
morrow, and she has been bragging, all sum- 
mer long, that when she came to New York, 
she wouldn’t have to study any more. Now 
she finds she must, it goes against the grain, 
and Peggy’s grain is a powerful tough one.” 

“What about yours?” his sister asked, as 
she rescued an illustrated Kipling from his 
smudgy fingers. 


16 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“Haven’t any. I’m all soft and sweet, 
like taffy when you’ve pulled it off the stick. 
Say, Nathalie, what are you doing this for ? 
I want you to come out in the park with 
me.” 

Nathalie cast a longing glance out of the 
window. 

“I wish I could, Ealph; but I promised 
Harry I would put his books in order for him. 
He needs them, and he is so busy.” 

“ What doing ? ” Ealph’s accent was tinged 
with scorn. 

“ Getting things settled.” 

“ So am I. I upset my tool chest, last night 
when I went to bed, and I have been picking 
up screws and awls and things ever since. I’ll 
help you, Nathalie, and we’ll dump these on 
the shelves in a hurry. Then won’t you 
come ? ” 

“ Oh, Ealph, look out for the corners I 
Don’t whack so!” Nathalie begged, as the 
books began to thump and grind along the 
shelves. 

“ Do it, yourself, then ; but hurry up. It is 
awfully stupid here, not a soul to speak to, 
when I go out, and Peggy cross as thunder 
all the time. Where is Hal ? ” 


NATHALIE'S GHU3I 


17 


“ Gone to see the people Mr. Myers told 
him about. I do wish he could get the chance 
to tutor that boy.” 

“ What’s the use ? ” 

“ Money,” Nathalie said tersely. “ It is go- 
ing to cost us a lot to live here, even in this 
scrap of a place ; and poor Harry will have to 
work hard to keep things going. I wish I 
weren’t such a worthless piece of property.” 

“ You’re no worse than any girl,” Kalph ob- 
served encouragingly. 

“ Maybe not. At any rate, I’m bad enough. 
I can’t do one single thing to help along, and 
I just hate plain gowns and bread puddings. 
I’d like to be a millionairess and have fifty- 
’leven servants.” 

“No good. They would always be in a 
row with each other. Aren’t you ever coming 
out ? ” 

Nathalie looked down at the pile of books, 
then up at the empty shelves. 

“ I’ll be ready in an hour, Kalph. It takes 
time to pack a bushel of beans into a pint cup, 
and that is what I feel as if I were doing, 
every time I try to stow away our things into 
this bandbox of a house. It’s like playing 
house, somehow. I suppose I shall get used 


18 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


to it ; but after all the waste room there was 
in Chesterton, this does seem rather tucked-up* 
You are dreadfully in the way, dear. Don’t 
you want to go somewhere else to wait ? ” 

‘‘ Don’t want to ; but I suppose I must.” 
And, with his cap cocked on the extreme back 
of his head, Kalph obediently departed. 

There followed another interval of quiet, 
while Nathalie worked steadily, sorting and 
packing away the books which were her 
brother’s chiefest pride. There were many of 
them and of many sorts, for Harry was a 
student by nature and for years he had been 
gathering this little library, putting into it the 
money that his fellow-students would have 
thrown away upon more doubtful pleasures. 
The greater part of it was of little interest to 
Nathalie, tough old histories, indigestible 
essays and grim volumes of German science. 
These she stowed away swiftly, paying more 
heed to size than to subject, and only intent 
upon squeezing them into straight, serried 
ranks on the fast-filling shelves. Then, as her 
hand rested on a green and gold volume, she 
paused to look again. That look was her un- 
doing. An hour later, she was still buried in 
the early chapters of Pride and Prejudice. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


19 


A step aroused her, and she looked up, as 
Harry entered the room. 

“ Back so soon ? What success ? ” she de- 
manded; 

“I’m not sure yet,” he answered, as he 
threw himself down into a chair. 

“ What do you think about it ? ” 

“ I think I want it rather badly, a good deal 
more than it wants me.” 

Letting the book slide out of her lap, Nath- 
alie rose and stood beside him. 

“ Is something wrong, Harry ? ” she asked, 
with sudden gravity. 

“Not a bit. It is only that I want to get 
this place as tutor, and there are two or three 
others in ahead of me. I don’t believe one of 
them wants or needs it more than I do.” 

Nathalie deposited herself on the arm of 
his chair, took his face in her two palms and 
tilted it upward. Seen even at that undigni- 
fied angle, it was a good face and an attract- 
ive one, with its firm lips, its steady blue eyes 
and its thick light brown hair. Harry Arter- 
burn had just escaped being handsome ; he had 
not escaped being an uncommonly clean, 
wholesome-looking fellow evidently of gentle 
birth. For the rest, the dignity of his eye- 


20 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


glasses was totally destroyed by a dimple 
which was the close twin to !N^athalie’s own. 
Otherwise, there was little likeness between 
the brother and sister. Nathalie’s hair was 
yellow, her color deeper, her face more full. 
At the very first glance, she gave an impres- 
sion of perfect physical health, no nerves to 
speak of, and a thorough enjoyment of the 
good things of life. Nathalie Arterburn 
would never peak and pine in mourning over 
the inevitable. 

Just now, however, her face was unusually 
earnest. 

“ Harry,” she said slowly ; “ I do wish you 
would tell me, tell me honestly, whether we 
children are going to be too much of a load 
for you to carry.” 

“Of course not. We shall get on well 
enough,” he replied, flinching a little under her 
steady gaze. “ You don’t need to worry about 
things, Nathalie.” 

“ I’m not worrying,” she answered sturdily, 
though in her secret heart she was still a little 
afraid of her dignified older brother, and re- 
gretted that he was not cast in the same 
mental mould as the more happy-go-lucky 
Kalph. “ Of course I know we aren’t rich. 














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NATHALIE'S CHUM 


21 


and there are a lot of us. It isn’t quite fair for 
you to have it all to do. I wish I could help.” 

“You? You’re going into school, next 
week.” 

“I won’t,” she protested. “I’m going to 
stay here and keep house.” 

“ What about Cousin Eudora Evelina ? ” 

“ She can cook and scrub. I shall beautify 
things and warm your slippers for you.” She 
laughed a little; then she returned to the 
charge. “You might as well tell me about 
things, Harry, first as last. I ought to know 
about them, and you ought to have somebody 
to talk them over with and free your mind, 
when they go wrong.” 

“ A child like you ? ” he asked teasingly. 

She flushed hotly. 

“ I’m not a child, even if I am only fifteen. 
I’ve lived by myself so much and changed 
about from place to place so often that I feel 
grown-up and settled, almost as old as you. 
Do let me be in it, Harry. I don’t want to be 
treated as you would treat Peggy.” 

“Why, Nathalie, I didn’t suppose — — ” 

“ You ought to have supposed,” she inter- 
rupted hotly. “ Of course I do. We two are 
all the family there is, for the children don’t 


22 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


count, nor Eudora Evelina. After this, do 
let’s talk things out and make plans together. 
It’s not that I am curious ; but I honestly 
think it is the only way we can do. You’re 
nothing but a boy, your own self, and you 
may need my advice,” she added coaxingly. 

Harry Arterburn had had theories in re- 
gard to woman’s position in the family. With- 
out being self-assertive, he had never con- 
templated the possibility of sharing with 
Nathalie the financial and domestic problems 
which even the past two weeks had set before 
him. How, as he looked up into the eager 
face beside him, he meekly accepted the situ- 
ation. Moreover, he suddenly realized that it 
might not be such a bad idea, after all, to have 
a parent coadjutor in his fatherly responsi- 
bilities, when that coadjutor took the form of 
a girl like Hathalie. For the first time since 
he had met her at the train and had halted in 
astonishment at sight of his tall, comely sister, 
he put his arm around her in true brotherly 
fashion. 

Satisfied at this mark of liking from her 
undemonstrative brother, Hathalie cuddled 
against him for a minute ; then she straight- 
ened up again. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


23 


“ Now tell me all about the place,” she said 
briskly. 

“It’s on West Fifty-ninth Street; they are 
people of some money, I should think. The 
father is a musician.” 

“ Long hair and a fiddle ? ” Nathalie ques- 
tioned irreverently. 

“ No ; he has seen an occasional barber, and 
he wore unprofessional gray tweed. There 
are three boys; but it is only the youngest 
who needs a tutor. He broke himself in two, 
somehow or other; and, while he has been 
getting well, he has dropped behind in his 
classes. The other two are in Yale ; this one 
ought to have gone in, next year ; but he can’t.” 

“ How old is he ? ” 

“ Seventeen, perhaps.” 

“ Great stupid ! ” 

“No ; I told you he broke himself.” 

“How?” 

“ I’m not just sure.” 

“ Is he mended ? ” 

“Apparently. At least, I didn’t miss any 
pieces.” 

“ Oh, you saw him ? ” 

“Yes. Mr. Myers thought we’d better have 
each other up for inspection.” 


24 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“ What is he like ? ” 

“ Homely and overgrown. Acts lazy, speaks 
like a gentleman, looks cross.” 

Nathalie made a grimace of disgust. 

‘‘How you will enjoy him! Why don’t 
they put him into school ? ” 

“ I’ve an idea that he isn’t very strong yet, 
and that he has been rather demoralized by 
too much coddling. Besides, if there’s so 
much lost time to be made up, he can do it 
best with a tutor.” 

“ And you want him ? ” 

“ Yes. That is, I want the extra thousand 
a year.” 

“It would go a good ways in shoes and 
sugar,” she said, laughing. “ How much time 
would it take ? ” 

“ Three hours a day.” 

“ That boy here for three hours a day I ” 
Her tone endeavored to express consternation. 

“ Oh, no ; I shall go there.” 

Nathalie’s face fell. 

“ Oh. What for ? ” 

“ That is the arrangement — if I get it.” 

“ But I thought he would be such fun to 
know,” she said ruefully. 

Harry hesitated. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


25 


‘‘We aren’t likely to know him, Nathalie.” 

“ Not if you tutor him ? ” 

“ Not in the way you mean, not as a friend.” 

I should like to know why not.” 

“ Because ” Harry faltered a little, as 

he met the flashing eyes ; “ because we aren’t 
likely to. I shall be his tutor, hired to put 
classics and things into his head. His father, 
Mr. Myers says, is a famous musician, and 
their home is very beautiful. They have all 
the friends they wish, sister mine; and their 
friends don’t live in a little bit of a furnished 
apartment with only an old cousin to do the 
work.” 

“But papa was ” she began. 

“Yes; but papa isn’t here, and we must 
stand on our own feet. I want you to go into 
a good school, Nathalie, and to make friends 
of your own. Meanwhile, we must remember 
that, even if we did have a Puritan ancestor 
or two, we are not people who are likely to 
be asked to be friends of the Barretts.” 

Nathalie watched him steadily, unflinch- 
ingly, while she listened to this first lesson 
in social science. When he had finished, she 
said, with a cold distinctness, — 

“ Never mind talking about it, Harry. I 


26 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


think I understand, and, even if I don’t, there 
is no especial use in trying to say it in so 
many words.” 

There was a long pause. It was ^Nathalie 
who broke it, and her voice had the old hearty 
ring. 

“ I hope you will get him, Harry. As long 
as he is stupid and lazy and bad-tempered and 
snobbish, at least, you will feel that you have 
earned your money. Then, when it is earned, 
you can come home to your sister, and she 
will help you spend it. How do help me put 
these books away, for I hear Kalph shouting 
for me. If I don’t hurry, he will stir up 
Fizzums, and then woe betide us all ! ” 

Half through with her task, she turned 
again to face her brother. 

“ When you go to the Barretts’ house,” she 
inquired ; “ that is, if you do go, will you have 
to go in by the area door, or may you use the 
front steps ? ” 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


27 


CHAPTEE THEEE 

H EEEDITY is a mighty power. 

In the days of her lusty girlhood, 
Mrs. Gifford Barrett had allowed her bicycle 
to run away with her, coming down a steep 
hill during a driving shower. She had had 
the best of a collision with a stranger man, 
and had laid him low at her feet. Later on, 
he had laid himself at her feet once more, and 
had coaxed her into marrying him. It was 
only the first part of the situation which had 
proved hereditary, however. No one but 
Mrs. Barrett would have bought a second- 
hand skeleton, lashed it to her handle-bar and 
started for home in the face of a threaten- 
ing downpour. Nobody but Kingsley Barrett 
would have tied two bicycles together with 
twenty feet of clothes-line, and then have 
undertaken to ride the forward one of them 
down through Morningside Park. The rear 
wheel not only had a less experienced rider ; 
but it also had a higher gear than did his own. 


28 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


In consequence, a dignified coachman lost his 
stolidity and pulled his horses on their 
haunches in a futile attempt to avoid the 
tangle of boys and bicycles and rope that 
came plunging down upon him. 

The other boy escaped with a cut face and 
a sprained elbow ; but Kingsley Barrett, who 
never did anything by halves, was taken 
out from under the horses’ feet, more dead 
than alive, and the next fourteen months were 
one long battle with pain and the probability 
of permanent injury. It caused him to be 
coddled and spoiled, it impaired his temper ; 
but it in no wise daunted his spirit, and when 
he slowly came back into a semblance of his 
old-time activity, he was surrounded by no 
halo of pensive invalidism. Even his critical 
brother Paul, a sophomore in Yale, was forced 
to admit that Kingsley was bidding fair to 
become very much a man. 

nevertheless, the year of invalid life had 
set its mark upon him. His face was fretful 
at times, his manner imperious, and he had a 
fashion of assuming that the world must be 
ruled according to his individual whim. It 
was only the natural outcome of those long 
weeks when his mother had hung over him, 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


29 


eager to anticipate every wish of the boy be- 
fore whom the future loomed so dark. As 
soon as the fear of darkness was dispelled, 
however, it was discovered that the effect 
upon his character had not been wholly im- 
proving. Otherwise he was an attractive 
boy, with the well-bred homeliness that is 
always so pleasing. His gray eyes were 
steady and true, his lips firm and tightly 
closed. 

How that his various bones and ligaments 
were growing together again, it became need- 
ful to think about study once more. Though 
he was coming back to something of his old 
habits, it would be long and long before he 
was quite sound again, and the doctors had 
prudently forbidden school life for a boy who 
would be certain to be in the forefront of the 
athletic fray. Kingsley raged, both openly 
and in spirit, at the idea of a tutor ; but his 
father stood firm, and, for a month after their 
return to the city, Mr. Barrett had been 
weighing the merits of the various applicants 
for his liberal salary, only to have one candi- 
date after another rejected by his imperious 
young son and heir. 

“But you must have somebody, Kex,” his 


30 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


mother urged. “It is time the matter was 
settled, for your father is in a hurry to go to 
work on his new symphony, and he can’t do 
anything until you are off his mind. Why 
don’t you want this Mr. Sotheran ? ” 

“Milksop,” Kingsley replied concisely, as 
he took another muffin. 

“ Mr. Edwards, then ? ” 

“ Cad, and I know he eats with his knife.” 

“ But he isn’t going to eat with you.” 

“ No ; but I don’t want to have him around. 
He gives me the blue wiggles.” 

“ What do you think of Mr. Hill ? ” 

“ His neckties would drive me to drink.” 

“ But, Kex, you must have somebody.” 

Kingsley put both elbows on the table, 
rested his chin in his hands and eyed her be- 
nignly. 

“Oh, come off there. Mater! What’s the 
use of my doing lessons? I didn’t have to 
fuss about them, last year.” 

“ No ; but you are strong enough now.” 

“ I sha’n’t be, if I have to get to work with 
one of those fellows. I’ve a deadly sinking 
inside myself at the very idea, and I know 
studying will make my fourth rib fetch loose 
again. I don’t feel any drawing to go to^ col- 


NATHALWS GBUM 


31 


lege, so let’s call off the tutor-hunt and have 
some fun.” 

It was at this epoch that Harry Arterburn 
applied for the position of tutor to Kingsley 
Barrett. 

“ As I have been remarking, every day for 
a month,” Kingsley observed at dinner, that 
night ; “ I haven’t the slightest hankering to 
have a tutor, and I think the pater would 
much better save his money and send it to 
foreign lands to educate some other heathen. 
Still, if he is bound to support a worthy young 
man, my vote goes to this Arterburn chap. 
He is presentable, and his muscles look hard. 
I want a man who would be worth the trouble 
of knocking down, if he needed it. Ko; I 
don’t want that Mr. Blakeslee. He may know 
things; but he is too flabby. It’s got to be 
Mr. Arterburn, or nobody.” 

And Mr. Arterburn it was. 

“ You needn’t think I’m anything of a 
grind,” Kingsley explained, with dispassionate 
frankness, on the morning that his tutor as- 
sumed his new duties. “The pater says I’ve 
got to go to college, and I suppose that means 
you are to put me there. You’ll have it all to 
do, though. I am willing you should try to 


32 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


punch some ideas into my head ; but I can’t 
promise that they will stay there. If I fur- 
nish the brain, it is your business to fill it up. 
ITow fire ahead with your old Xenophon.” 

For a week, he was as good as his word. 
He sat passive and docile under Harry’s teach- 
ing, lent a politely attentive ear to his expla- 
nations and promptly forgot them all before 
the next morning arrived. He was courteous 
and unrufiled by the rebukes of his tutor; 
but they jogged his intellect as little as they 
jarred his temper, and Harry Arterburn left 
him, day after day, more and more at a loss 
how, in the space of one revolving year, 
he could put one thousand dollars’ worth of 
scholarship into the brain of his wayward 
pupil. 

“Harry, you are tired,” Nathalie said to 
him, one noon, after she had watched him for 
a time. 

He was certainly very tired ; but he pulled 
himself together with an effort. 

“Ho; I’m not. I am only trying to sort 
out my ideas for my lecture, this afternoon.” 

“ Let your ideas go. It is your five o’clock 
day; isn’t it? Those students won’t know 
what you are saying, as late as that in the 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


33 


afternoon. How did your boy get on with^, 
his verbs, this morning ? ” 

“ The boy was on hand ; but the verbs were 
conspicuous by their absence.” 

“ Didn’t he know them ? ” 

“ Of course not.” 

“ Why?” 

“ Too much trouble to learn them.” 

“But why don’t you tell him to learn 
them ? ” she asked. 

“ Tell him ! ” Harry’s accent was circum- 
flex. “ I did mention to him that I should be 
grateful for a little study.” He laughed; 
then he lapsed into moody silence. “Nath- 
alie,” he said at length ; “ I believe I am 
losing my grip.” 

“Did you ever have any?” she inquired 
saucily. Then, as she saw his face redden at 
her words, she rose and crossed the room to 
his side. “Honestly, I didn’t mean that, 
Harry. Of course, your tutoring is all right. 
The boy needn’t be so lazy. Is he stupid ? ” 

“No. If he were, there would be some 
hope for him. He learns fast enough, when 
he chooses.” 

“ Then what is the matter ? Doesn’t he 
like you ? ” she questioned bluntly. 


34 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“ I don’t think he takes the trouble to like 
or dislike me, one way or the other.” 

“ Why don’t you speak to his father ? ” 

“ What’s the use ? If I can’t get hold of 
him, myself, all the fathers in Christendom 
won’t do the business for me. No; I must 
put it through alone, or not at all.” 

“ Harry, it is a burning shame for you to be 
wasting your time and wearing yourself out 
over that boy. I’d like to get hold of him. 
I’d put some sense into him, and knock some 
of the nonsense out. You’d better let me go 
in your place, for a time or two; then you 
would find a meek boy, or my name is not 
Nathalie Arterburn.” 

“What’s the fuss now, Nathalie?” Kalph 
inquired, as he came clattering into the room. 
“ Lunch read}^ ? Where is Peggy ? ” 

“I’m here,” Peggy responded from a dis- 
tance. “ I do wish, Nathalie, that you would 
come and tie my hair, and not keep fretting 
about that stupid Barrett boy.” 

Nathalie obediently vanished, and Kalph 
took her place before his older brother. 

“ Say, Harry ” 

“ What now ? ” 

“ I’ve just smashed the window in my room, 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


35 


did it with my shoe. I’m sorry, for it is a 
hugeable pane ; but I was shying my shoes at 
the closet door, and one of them went off on 
the wrong tangent.” 

“ Sorry. Don’t do it again, for glass costs 
good money.” 

“ I know that. Cousin Eudora said I ought 
to have a good sound whipping for being so 
careless, and, if she were in your place, she 
would give me one. She probably thought I 
was Fizzums. And, Harry ” 

‘‘ Well ? ” 

“ One of my new shoes has split out at the 
side. I don’t think it could have been made 
of very good leather. I was kicking football, 
this morning, and came whack against the 
wall, and it popped open like a torpedo, — the 
shoe, not the wall.” 

“ Can’t it be mended ? ” 

I don’t believe so. It’s all saw-tooth along 
the edges, where it hit on a sharp stone.” 

‘‘ Harry ! ” The door from the kitchen flew 
open, and the thin, sharp face of Cousin 
Eudora Evelina appeared in the crack. “I 
forgot to tell you, this morning, that the 
sugar and potatoes are gone, and that we 
shall need more flour, to-morrow. While you , 


36 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


are about it, you might as well order some 
butter and some cornstarch. My soul ! Those 
children do have appetites to beat anything I 
ever saw in Yermont. Seems as if things just 
flew down their throats, without doing them 
one smitch of good.” 

Harry assented ; then he sighed a little, as 
he took out his memorandum book and wrote 
down the requisitions. There was no doubt 
of the fact that it took money to support a 
family of five in Hew York. There was some- 
thing from his father’s estate, although Mr. 
Arterburn had been a man who lived expen- 
sively and wholly in the financial present. For 
the rest, Harry’s salary at the university was 
only a small one, and he realized with a sud- 
den pang that it was imperative for him to 
earn the extra thousand a year. 

He had come home from the Barretts’, that 
noon, tired and discouraged, sure that there 
was little use in his attempting to do anything 
with his vexatious pupil. He objected to the 
idea of wasting his own time and Mr. Barrett’s 
money ; he objected to wearing out his nerv- 
ous system and his temper in a futile effort to 
do somebody some good. On his way home, 
he had half resolved to resign, the next morn- 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


37 


ing; and he had been pondering over the 
matter, when Nathalie had roused him. With 
a little care and planning, he had felt that he 
would be able to make both ends meet, even 
without the Barrett thousand. The main ex- 
penses would be their rent and Nathalie’s 
tuition at the good school he had chosen for 
her, and these could be met from the family 
income. His salary would do the rest. 

Sugar. Potatoes. Flour. Shoes. Glass. 
Butter. Cornstarch. 

He shut his book with a snap, rose and 
tramped up and down the floor. Then he 
picked up his Xenophon and went away to 
his own room. 

The next morning, Kingsley Barrett found 
his tutor more firm and painstaking than ever, 
and he reciprocated by upsetting a bottle of 
red ink all over his tutor’s left-hand cuff. 


38 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


CHAPTEE FOUE 

“ XT O, Fizzums; you can’t go with me.” 

“ But I wants to go.” 

“You can’t. You must stay with Cousin 
Eudora.” 

“I don’t like Cousin Yedowa. She kisses 
me on mine mouf, an’ her mouf is all soft.” 
Fizzums demonstrated his meaning by twist- 
ing his pink lips into a protruding knob. 

“Never mind, dear. Cousin Eudora likes 
little boys, and she likes to cuddle them. 
Just think how she rocks you and tells you 
sleepy stories ! ” 

“But I doesn’t want asleepy stowies now, 
wight in ve middle of ve day,” Fizzums ex- 
plained politely. “ I wants to go in ve cars 
wiv you.” 

Nathalie frowned thoughtfully. She had 
promised to escort one of her new school 
friends to the photographer, that day. Fiz- 
zums, whom the family record named Frank, 
for certain obvious reasons would be out of 


NATHALIE'S GEmi 


39 


place at the photographer’s, and Fizzums had 
asserted his desire to accompany her. Ralph 
was out, Peggy was too unreliable to be left 
in charge of her young brother, and Cousin 
Eudora, busy making a pudding, had explicitly 
requested Fizzums to depart from the kitchen. 

As a rule, the tough old spinster softened, 
whenever she came in contact with Fizzums ; 
but there were hours when his baby blandish- 
ments failed to move her from her wonted 
sternness. Just now, there was a coolness 
between Eudora Evelina and Fizzums, a cool- 
ness caused by Eudora Evelina’s finding her 
decorous gaiter-boots floating despondently in 
the bath tub. It is not in the mind of mortal 
woman to relish the imputation that her foot- 
gear resemble scows. 

“ Yere was only a bottomful an’ a half of 
water in ve tub,” Fizzums explained lucidly ; 
“an’ ve shoes looked so funny, just like two 
iN'oah an’ ve Arks, only vere wasn’t any 
nefalunt.” 

ITathalie drew a long breath. Then she 
began again. 

“ Fizzums, if you will be a good boy and 
stay here and play by yourself, when Nathalie 
comes back, she’ll tell you a long, long story.” 


40 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“ Five, sevewal stowies ? ” 

“ No ; one great big story, all about giants 
and choo-choo cars, and fairies with green and 
gold crowns on their heads.” 

Fizzums smiled in token of acquiescence. 

“ An’ Jacob’s ladder,” he emended ; “ an’ all 
ve nangels goin’ up an’ down atween here an’ 
heaven.” 

“Yes, if you’d rather.” 

“I wouldn’t rawer eiver of vem. I wants 
bofe. Ye nangels can come down in ve choo- 
choo cars wiv ve giant, an’ go up ve ladder 
wiv ve faiwies flyin’ all wound beside vem. 
I’ll build ve ladder now, I^athalie; an’ ven 
you can sit on ve top of it an’ tell me all ve 
stowy.” 

ISTathalie lingered long enough to see the 
foundations of the ladder in place. Then she 
left Fizzums engrossed in his blocks, and went 
away to put on her hat. 

In her own room, she paused for a moment 
to look about her ; then, crossing to the win- 
dow, she rested her elbows on the broad sill 
and stared out on the picture before her. Mrs. 
Myers had been wise in her choice of their 
new home ; the view alone was almost worth 
the cost of the rent. On account of Harry’s 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


41 


university duties, they needed to be far up 
town, and this apartment was a new one, high 
up in a block overlooking the river. From 
ISTathalie’s room, she could gaze away and 
away up the blue Hudson, and she never tired 
of watching the procession of yachts and 
barges and dignified steamers that moved up 
and down the shining stripe of water, nor of 
seeing the changing shadows over the Pali- 
sades and the higher crests beyond. She had 
never watched the passing boats till then ; 
they fired her imagination, and yet they 
seemed to quiet her girlish restlessness. 

After her quarters in the great, old-fashioned 
house in Chesterton, the room behind her 
seemed too small to deserve the name. At 
first, she had marveled at the economy of 
space, at the neat dovetailing together of the 
foot of the bed and the end of the chiffonier 
whose open drawers forbade any approach to 
the closet door. Then, as she came to a realiz- 
ing sense that a stray overshoe might act as a 
barricade between door and window, she grew 
impatient and raged in spirit. Order was by 
no means Nathalie’s first law. She could 
never see the reason for hanging up a gown 
at night, when there was any chance of her 


42 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


wishing to put it on again, the next day. Her 
chiffonier was arranged like a pile of books on 
a table, with strict attention to the laws of 
gravitation. The higher the drawer, the 
smaller were the things in it. Beyond this 
simple method, chaos reigned. 

Turning away from the window, Nathalie 
proceeded to gather up her belongings, pre- 
paratory to her trip down town. Her hat 
was easily found, since she had left it hanging 
on the gas fixture, that morning; but her 
search for her gloves cost some mental 
effort and many steps. One glove proved to 
be in the box with her darning cotton ; the 
other eluded her vigilance until she suddenly 
remembered that she had found it in the 
kitchen, that noon, and had stuck it into her 
belt for safe keeping. She was still hunting 
for her purse, when the bell rang; and her 
friend was kept waiting during a long twenty 
minutes while Nathalie rummaged her drawers 
in search of the missing property. Neverthe- 
less, strange to say, when at last she presented 
herself, she was as trim and dainty as a girl 
could be. Nathalie must be neat at any cost. 
Her chaos was confined to her possessions ; it 
never assailed her person. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


43 


“So sorry to have kept you waiting, 
Hilda ! ” she said apologetically. “ Truly, I 
couldn’t help it. I lost most of my things, 
and those I could find, were the ones I didn’t 
need. How just wait till I have a look at 
Fizzums.” 

“ At — what ? ” 

Hathalie laughed. 

“ At my small brother. His name is Frank ; 
but he began calling himself Fizzums, and the 
rest of us have taken it up. As a rule, I don’t 
like nicknames ; but this one fits too well to 
be forgotten. I want to see that he isn’t in 
any dire mischief. I left him constructing a 
Jacob’s ladder out of his blocks ; but there is 
no telling what he may be about by now.” 

However, Fizzums was absorbed in cutting 
out a glorious hierarchy of newspaper angels, 
and Hathalie left him to his own devices, in 
tranquil unconsciousness of the fact that, 
within an hour, the bluing from the laundry 
and the ink bottle from Harry’s desk would 
be called into requisition to paint the faces of 
the heavenly host. 

“I never get tired of Hew York, when I 
am down here,” she said enthusiastically, as 
the two friends finally turned away from the 


44 


NATHALIE'S GHU3I 


photographer’s door. “ It isn’t nearly time 
for dinner. Can’t we go somewhere else ? ” 

‘‘ Where do you want to go ? ” 

“ Anywhere. It is all new to me, but I 
suppose you know it by heart. I love to walk 
and walk, and see new things. When I get 
rich. I’ll have a tent in Madison Square, and 
watch things go on around me.” 

“ You’ll soon get sick of it,” Hilda returned, 
with the assumption of wellbred indifference 
that marks the western girl who is spending 
a few months at an up-town finishing school. 
“ I used to feel just that way ; but now I hate 
to come down town, it is so noisy and 
crowded.” 

‘‘ Maybe it is,” Nathalie responded sturdily ; 
“ but I love it, all the same. I like to see it 
rushing around me, and I love the feeling that 
I am a part of this great, rich city.” 

“ It isn’t all so rich.” 

“ Not rich, perhaps ; but everybody seems 
so comfortable and busy, and with money to 
spend. Just look at these shops ! ” 

“ That’s because you don’t know,” Hilda 
said, with a little air of conscious superiority 
which irritated Nathalie. “ Over in the East 
Side, they just live in heaps, and cook in their 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


45 


fire-escapes because their houses are too small 
to hold them.’^ 

“ Who does that ? ” Nathalie demanded. 

“ Everybody over in the East Side.” 

“ Where is that ? ” 

“ Oh, over by the river, somewhere.” 

“ And people live like that, here in New 
York?” 

‘‘ Yes.” 

‘‘ Have you ever seen them ? ” 

“No ; of course not.” 

“ How do you know, then ? ” 

“ Why, everybody knows it.” 

“I didn’t.” 

“ Well, you are from the country.” 

“Yes, and you are from the West.” 

For a minute, both chins were tilted at an 
aggressive angle. Then Nathalie laughed. 

“We can cry quits on that. You have been 
here a good deal longer than I have, though, 
so I suppose I shall have to believe you. Why 
don’t the rich people help them ? ” 

“ Some do ; but most of them form trusts 
and grind the face of the poor.” 

Nathalie halted so abruptly that she nearly 
upset a testy old gentleman who was close at 
her heels. 


46 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“ Where did you get that lingo ? ” she asked 
irreverently. 

“ It isn’t a lingo ; it’s the solemn truth.” 

Hilda’s tone betrayed her exasperation. 
She had been a good deal impressed by Nath- 
alie’s self-reliant manner, and it had seemed 
to her that it might be politic to make a friend 
of this new pupil who bore herself so inde- 
pendently in the ordeal of the first weeks at a 
strange school. Nathalie was good to look at ; 
she dressed with a tasteful simplicity which 
might be the sign of riches so unlimited as to 
be cloying. Moreover, her brother was known 
to be an instructor in the university and a 
man from whom any schoolgirl might be glad 
to have a smile, when they met in the street. 

Accordingly, Hilda had made overtures 
which, it must be confessed, Nathalie had re- 
ceived rather cavalierly ; and the trip to the 
photographer had been part of a plan to awe 
this self-assured young woman from the coun- 
try. Nevertheless, much as Nathalie loved 
pretty things, she had been a little disgusted 
at the necklace and the lace frills with which 
Hilda had garnished her round, bare 
shoulders ; and she had privately resolved 
that, in her next letter to Mildred, she would 


NATHALIE'S GHUAI 


47 


propound the question whether seventeen- 
year-old schoolgirls in Boston were accus- 
tomed to wear diamond stars in their hair. 

But, even if finery failed to impress l^ath- 
alie, a thorough knowledge of New York might 
do so ; and Hilda found it rather irritating to 
have her kindly information termed a lingo. 

“Professor Hale said so,” she went on a 
little sullenly. “ He lectured to us, last 
spring, once a week ; and he told us a lot 
about such things. He says that there is a 
place over here that is the thickest spot in the 
world.” 

“It must be on top of a mountain, then. 
How can we get there ? ” 

“ Oh, I suppose some of these little cars run 
over there.” 

“ Come on. Let’s go.” 

It was Hilda’s turn to stare. 

“ Nathalie Arterburn ! You wouldn’t ! ” 

“ Why not ? I’d like to see it.” 

“I wouldn’t go over there for worlds on 
worlds.” 

“ I don’t see why not.” 

“You’d catch things.” Hilda spoke with 
the toothy distinctness of utter disgust. 

“ Catch what ? I’m not afraid.” 


48 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“Catch diseases, smallpox and — and — 
batrachians.” 

Nathalie’s laugh rang out so blithely that a 
passer-by turned his head to look after her. 

“ If I meant bacteria, Hilda, I’d say so, and 
not talk about frogs when I meant microbes. 
Never mind about it now ; but, some day, I 
am going into your East Side, or End, or Cor- 
ner, or whatever it is, to see things for myself. 
Maybe I can do somebody some good.” And 
she kept her word. 

Over his salad, that night, Mr. Barrett 
laughed to himself. Then he looked across at 
his wife. 

“ I saw a girl after your own heart, to-day, 
Babe.” 

“ Who was that ? ” 

“ I don’t know. I saw her twice. The first 
time was away down town. I didn’t notice 
her till she laughed, such a jolly laugh that I 
turned to stare at her. She reminded me a 
little of you, a hearty, wholesome girl with a 
mop of light hair and a great mouth full of 
hard white teeth that looked as if they could 
eat nails, not pretty ” 

“ Thank you, dear ! ” his wife interpolated. 

“That’s all right. You know you didn’t 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


49 


look any too beautiful, the day we first met. 
But this girl attracted me. Then she hap- 
pened to be in the same car with me, coming 
up town, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off her, 
she seemed so exactly what our little Ted 
would have been, if she had lived. She was 
just the right age. I was up at the head of 
the car, and she was near the door. The car 
was mostly full of young men, and, half-way 
up town, an old negro woman came in, a 
dreadfully frowsy old negro with her arms so 
full of bundles that she couldn’t hang on to 
the strap. The men all buried themselves be- 
hind their papers ; but, after the woman had 
wobbled for a minute, my girl jumped up and 
offered her the place. Of course, then the 
men all came out from their papers and stood 
up ; but she turned scarlet and cocked up her 
head and assured them that she was quite able 
to stand, even if they weren’t. One man 
tried to urge her a little ; but she nearly took 
his head off. She was a peppery little soul ; 
but they deserved all they got.” 

Kingsley came out of a brown study and 
took his elbows off the table. 

“ I say,” he remarked slowly ; “ I believe I 
should like to know that girl.” 


50 


NATHALIE^ S CHUM 


CHAPTEE EIYE 

“ "TV /r IGHT I inquire what you are about, 
iVl Peggy?- 

“ Looking for my best stockings.” 

“ Well, keep out of my chiffonier.” 

“ IPs not your chiffonier, any more than it 
is mine.” 

On sufferance and from stern necessity, 
Peggy occupied one half of Nathalie’s bed and 
a fraction of the closet ; but the chiffonier was 
beyond her domains, and Nathalie had felt no 
sisterly thrill of pleasure when she had beheld 
Peggy’s hands rooting among her posses- 
sions. 

“You have no right to touch my things, 
Peggy,” she said with some asperity. “ Your 
stockings are not in my chiffonier.” 

“ I’d like to know how you can tell what is 
in that mess,” Peggy returned disdainfully. 

Nathalie threw down her pen and turned 
upon her young sister. 

“Peggy, I’ll thank you to go out of this 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


51 


room. I can’t finish, my letter, with you mak- 
ing such a fuss.” 

“I want my stockings.” 

“ Then look in the proper place for them.” 

“ Where’s that ? ” 

“ In the bureau in Kalph’s room.” 

“ How do you know they are there ? ” 

“Because they belong there.” 

“That’s no sign. Your stockings are all 
tangled up with your neckties, unwound and 
all.” 

The most chaotic of mortals will resent 
any accusation of disorder. Nathalie rose and 
crossed the room, her eyes flashing. 

“ Peggy, go out of this room at once.” 

Peggy plumped herself into the middle of 
the bed, laughing like a mocking elf. 

“Why?” 

“Because I say so.” Nathalie was quite 
aware that her tone of assumed authority 
never failed to irritate her young sister ; yet, 
for the moment, she was powerless to sup- 
press it. 

“ You aren’t my mother, and this is my 
room as much as it is yours, so I intend to 
stay as long as I choose,” Peggy replied 
tranquilly. 


52 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“ All right ; but you may end by staying a 
little longer.” 

There was a swift flank movement, a short, 
sharp struggle ; then Peggy found herself sit- 
ting on the closet floor, listening to the click 
of the key, as it turned in the lock. The 
closet was lighted by a small ground-glass 
window which opened on the court, and al- 
though the resources for entertainment were 
limited, l^athalie knew that an hour of cap- 
tivity would be attended by no serious results. 
Accordingly, she turned a deaf ear to the 
protesting thumps on the panels and the vin- 
dictive threats of appeal to Harry, and, gath- 
ering up her writing materials, she went out 
of the room and closed the door behind her. 

‘‘ I’m not just sure whether she is at home, 
or not,” Ealph was saying. “Come in and 
sit down, and I’ll see.” 

“Who is it that you want, Ealph? Oh, 
Hilda, I’m ever so glad to see you. Do take 
off your hat and stay.” 

“I really oughtn’t to stay.” Hilda’s tone 
was reluctant, though she had come with the 
express intention of taking up her abode in 
Nathalie’s parlor until such time as she had 
succeeded in gaining an introduction to Nath- 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


53 


aliens older brother. Unfortunately for Hilda, 
it chanced that Nathalie’s older brother had 
gone out of town for the day. Furthermore, 
it chanced that Nathalie’s younger brother 
suddenly elected to stay in the house and 
help to entertain his sister’s guest who was 
no ardent lover of small boys. 

“ It’s such a glorious day,” Hilda chattered, 
while Nathalie took possession of her hat and 
coat. “I couldn’t bear to stay inside the 
house, so I thought I would run over here 
and have a peep at your lovely view.” 

Kalph hitched his chair a bit nearer the 
broad window seat where Hilda had perched 
herself. 

“We had a fine view here, this morning,” 
he chuckled. “The milkman’s dog and the 
one that rides in the grocery cart pitched on 
each other, right down by our door. Jiminy ! 
How the fur fiew ! The grocer dog had the 
worst of it, for the other took him by the 
throat and ” 

“ Hilda,” Nathalie interrupted ; “ this is the 
pillow I was talking about. Isn’t it a pretty 
one ? ” 

“ Did you make it ? ” 

“ No ; I don’t see much sense in fancy work. 


54 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


Life isn’t long enough to make it worth while 
to pull out threads just for the sake of darn- 
ing some more threads into the holes, and I 
don’t care to spend a month in embroidering 
half a sweet pea. I like to see the things, 
when they are done ; but I’d rather go with- 
out them than make them.” 

‘‘ Yes ; but you can do them at odd times, 
and if you watch your chance and get your 
materials at bargain sales, they make such 
nice, cheap Christmas presents.” 

“Want to know what I’d like for Christ- 
mas ? ” Ealph inquired, taking the burden of 
conversation upon himself once more. 

Hilda manifested no overweening curiosity 
in the matter, however, and Ealph turned to 
Nathalie. 

“ Want to know, Nathalie ?” 

“ What is it, Ealph ? ” 

“ A whopping great bulldog that could lick 
everything.” 

“You dreadful boy ! ” Hilda bestowed upon 
him a glance of disapproval. 

“ What’s the row ? Don’t you like dogs ? ” 

“Yes, nice, neat little dogs that yon can 
pet, but not bulldogs.” 

“ I know the kind of dogs girls like,” Ealph 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


55 


returned, well pleased to be holding up his 
end of the conversation so easily. “You 
want those hairy little beasts with poppy eyes 
and tongues too long to stay in their mouths. 
ITow, if you ” 

“Ealph,” E’athalie asked abruptly; “isn’t 
to-day the day of your football game ? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ How does it happen you aren’t there ? ” 

“ Didn’t want to go.” 

“I thought you always went to football 
games.” 

“Hot unless they are good ones. Can you 
play football, Hilda ? ” 

“ Miss Lancaster,” Hathalie corrected him. 

“Well, Miss Lancaster, then. Can you 
play football ? ” 

“ Of course not,” Hilda replied primly. 

“ Why not ? Hathalie can.” 

Hathalie’s color came. 

“ Ealph ! ” she expostulated. 

“ You needn’t pretend. You know you told 
me how once you and Mildred ” 

“ You ought to have known my Cousin Mil- 
dred, Hilda,” Hathalie interrupted hastily. 
“ We were together, last year. How she is at 
school in Boston.” 


56 


NATHALIES CHUM 


“Why didn’t she come to New York?” 
Hilda asked critically. 

“ Why didn’t you go to Boston ? ” Kalph re- 
torted, heedless of the hand which Nathalie 
rested on his shoulder. 

“Because I preferred New York.” 

“ Maybe that’s the way she felt about Bos- 
ton. Ouch ! You pinch, Nathalie ! Where 
going?” 

Nathalie had risen. 

“ Into my room. Hilda, don’t you want to 
see some pictures of Chesterton ? ” 

“I’ll get them for you,” Ealph suggested 
with unw^onted alacrity. 

“ No, dear ; we’ll go.” 

“All right.” And Ealph prepared to ac- 
company them. 

Nathalie eyed him despairingly, Hilda with 
open disgust. On the threshold of her room, 
Nathalie turned back. 

“ Ealph, I wish you would see to Fizzums 
for a while. \Cousin Eudora is out.” 

“ Where is S^il ? ” 

“He went away, you know, and won’t be 
back till dinner-time.” 

“Fizzums is all right.” 

“ Don’t be too sure. When he is so quiet, 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


57 


it is always well to look out for him, because 
he is certain to be in some mischief.” 

As Ealph turned away, Hilda drew a sigh 
of relief. 

“ You poor, dear thing, how can you ever 
stand it ? ” she asked. 

“ Stand what ? ” Nathalie’s honest eyes 
looked straight into the eyes of her guest. 

“ Stand that dreadful boy.” 

“Ealph? Why, what’s the matter with 
Ealph?” 

“ Oh, — nothing,” Hilda answered evasively, 
for she was learning that, when Nathalie took 
that tone, it was never well to pursue the sub- 
ject under discussion at the time. 

Inside the room, the two girls were at peace 
and troubled by no hostile demonstrations 
from the closet. For reasons of her own, 
Peggy had no wish to be disturbed just then. 
Accordingly, she maintained a discreet silence, 
sitting with her ear against the keyhole, in 
the hope of hearing some adverse comment 
upon herself which would add color to the 
story she was preparing for Harry’s ears. 
Quite to her disappointment, however, the 
talk was impersonal and uninteresting. Nath- 
alie had entirely forgotten her captive, and 


58 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


was putting all her energy into the effort to 
entertain her guest who of a sudden had 
grown absent-minded and restless. 

Suddenly Hilda sprang up. 

“ It is so warm here. Let’s go out and take 
a walk.” 

“It will have to be a little one,” Nathalie 
demurred. 

“ Why ? ” 

“ Because I promised Harry that I would 
hear Kalph say over his lessons.” 

“ Hever mind. That can wait. Come.” 

Nathalie picked up her hat from a chair. 

“ For just half an hour, then,” she conceded ; 
and Peggy, listening, chuckled to herself. 
Half an hour would exactly suffice for the 
completion of her task. 

The half-hour was a long one. In the clear, 
crispy October air, the time passed rapidly and 
unheeded, and Hilda had no trouble in luring 
her friend along the Boulevard until the uni- 
versity buildings were far behind them. 
Then, with a glance at her watch and a little 
horrified exclamation over the hour, she turned 
back and passed the library again just in sea- 
son to meet Harry Arterburn, as he started to 
climb the steps. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


59 


“It must be very nice to have a brother 
of that sort,” she said enviously, five minutes 
later. 

“ Yes, I like all my brothers. Haven’t you 
any brothers, Hilda ? ” 

“Yes, three or four; but they aren’t much 
use. Your brother is perfectly elegant. I 
don’t believe he ever swore in his life.” 

“I should hope not,” Nathalie responded 
fervently. 

“ Mine do, and smoke in the parlor, too ; all 
but one and he is a prohibitionist. Father 
says he is the worst of the lot.” 

It was nearly time for dinner when Nath- 
alie reached home, so, tossing her hat on to 
her bed, she called Ralph and fell to work on 
his lessons. Harry’s will was law, and Nath- 
alie had promised to oversee the school work 
of her young brother who possessed the book- 
ish tendencies of healthy thirteen, and needed 
to be goaded up the ladder of learning. They 
were still toiling over the Plains of Abraham, 
when the door opened and Harry came into 
the room. A moment later. Cousin Eudora 
Evelina summoned them to dinner. 

“ It’s the queerest thing,” she said, as they 
took their places; “but I haven’t seen that 


60 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


Peggy since noon. She hasn’t gone out, be- 
cause her hat and coat are here ; but, when I 
came home, I hunted high and low for her. 
I wanted her to set the table ; but she had 
hiked herself off out of the way. She’ll get 
round now, though. My soul ! You can trust 
that Peggy to show herself, when meal-time 
comes.” 

IS^athalie roused herself from a reverie. 

“ Who is that you’re talking about ? 
Peggy ? ” she asked. 

“Yes. I haven’t set eyes on her since 
lunch.” 

“ Merciful me ! I locked her up ! ” And, 
rising, Nathalie rushed from the table. 

She was back again in a moment, however. 
Her eyes were blazing; but her anger was 
mingled with uncontrollable mirth. 

“ Come here, all of you,” she said brokenly. 
“ I shut her into the closet for prying into my 
chiffonier where she didn’t belong. I only 
meant to keep her there for a few minutes ; 
but Hilda’s coming made me forget her. I 
wish I hadn’t, now. Anyway, I rather think 
I have had the worst of it.” 

She led the way to the closet and threw 
open the door, then stepped aside to allow the 




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NATHALIE'S CHUM 


61 


others to view the ruin which Peggy had 
^wrought. Carefully turned inside out and 
reversed so that they hung by their hems, a 
row of skirts adorned one wall ; the other was 
covered with the accompanying bodices, also 
wrong side out and dangling by one sleeve. 
The contents of the shelf, including JSTathalie’s 
best hat, were heaped on the floor, and their 
place occupied by the material which usually 
filled the shoe-bag. The shoe-bag itself was 
missing. In its place hung the empty piece- 
bag ; and across the back of the closet was a 
deep, comfortable couch of the debris from 
the loosened rolls. On this couch, Peggy lay 
in tranquil slumber. 

Koused by the sudden glare of light, she sat 
up and rubbed open her sleepy eyes, while her 
hair and the back of her rough cloth gown 
bristled stifily with the scraps of Nathalie’s 
summer wardrobe. 

Cousin Eudora Evelina stared from the 
yawning child to the dismantled closet. 

‘‘Well, heavens to Betsey ! ” she ejaculated. 


62 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


CHAPTEE SIX 

T T AERY, I’m tired of girls,” Nathalie 

X~1 said abruptly, that night. 

“ Is that the reason you tried to make away 
with Peggy ? ” 

Nathalie laughed, as she came forward to 
the fire and settled herself on the rug. 

“ Poor Peggy ! I meant to leave her to 
meditate on her sins for half an hour or so ; 
that was all.” 

“I’m not so sure that it is altogether a 
good thing for you to try to discipline the 
younger ones, Nathalie,” her brother said 
thoughtfully. 

“ But they do need it most awfully, some- 
times,” she urged. 

“ I don’t doubt it ; but you aren’t enough 
older to make a success of it.” 

“Neither are you,” she retorted. 

“ I am perfectly aware of that fact.” 

“ Then who will do it ? ” 

“ What about Cousin Eudora ? ” 


NATHAL^S CHUM 


63 


^Nathalie made a wry face. 

“She’s no use. Her head shakes corner- 
wise, when she is trying to be extra impress- 
ive, and she fairly sizzles her S’s. When she 
is scolding one of us, the rest all giggle, and 
that spoils the moral effect.” 

“ I don’t quite understand Cousin Eudora,” 
Harry said thoughtfully. 

“I do. She is fearfully and wonderfully 
made, and she is funny; but she’s not half 
bad, Harry,” Hathalie responded with un- 
expected generosity. “ She will never be 
much of a redeeming influence on me ; but she 
is a most mortal good cook, and she manages 
Fizzums beautifully. Ealph is a dear, and 
doesn’t need much managing ; but I do just 
long to get my fingers on Peggy and give her 
a good shaking now and then.” 

“ What is the matter with Peggy ? ” 

Hathalie looked up with a little laugh. 

“ Oh, I don’t want to tell tales, Harry. It 
is bad manners.” 

Harry bent forward and stirred the fire. 
There was a perplexed look in his dark blue 
eyes, a slight frown between the straight 
brown brows. 

“ What makes you wizzle up your face like 


64 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


that ? ” his sister demanded. “ It isn’t a bit 
becoming to you ; and your glasses will drop 
off into the fire, if you aren’t careful.” 

He laughed in spite of himself. 

‘‘ You are a trial, Nathalie. Where is your 
respect for your older brother ? But the fact 
is that I am trying to decide whether you be- 
long to Peggy’s epoch, or to my own.” 

“ To yours, of course. Peggy is nothing but 
a child. What difference does it make, though, 
where I belong, as long as I am here ? ” 

‘‘ I don’t know whether to encourage you in 
discussing Peggy’s vagaries, or to shut you 
both up, for a pair of quarrelsome youngsters.” 

Nathalie looked slightly offended. 

‘‘I don’t care anything about discussing 
Peggy,” she said shortly. 

“ Ho ; but I do, and I rather think I’ll do 
better to talk her over with you than with 
Cousin Eudora.” He bent over and took her 
face between his strong, slim hands. “ Don’t 
be cross at me, Hathalie. Keally, it is no joke 
for a fellow of my age to have to bring up 
Peggy, and I need all the help I can get.” 

If Hathalie’s patience was short, her im- 
patience was always even shorter, and her 
face cleared at his words. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


65 


“I don’t mean to be cranky, Harry. I 
know you have your hands full, with us all on 
your soul. I ought to help you, and I meant 
to, honestly meant to, to-day; but it didn’t 
seem to come out just right.” 

“ Ho ; I should say not. Do you know, 
Hathalie, it’s a queer thing, but I have been 
watching you for two months now, and you 
and Ealph never seem to have any squabbles.” 

“ Of course not. Ealph is a dear,” she broke 
in enthusiastically. 

“ And we don’t.” 

“ How could we, Harry ? ” Turning, she 
looked at him in honest surprise. 

Her look did him a world of good. After a 
morning when Kingsley had been peculiarly 
exasperating, after an afternoon of looking up 
some bad investments made by his father and 
finding them worse than he had supposed, 
after a lecture when he knew that his entire 
class of students was ripe for hilarious mutiny, 
he had come home to discover domestic war. 
There had been many hours since his return 
from Europe when he had seriously questioned 
whether or not he were strong enough to hold 
his family together, whether, after all, it 
would not be better to send the little ones 


66 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


back to Yermont and put ISTatbalie into a good 
boarding-school. Such a mood was upon him, 
to-night. In the midst of it, he found her un- 
expected loyalty most comforting. 

He wanted to say this to her, to give her 
some hint of the pleasure he was learning to 
take in her company ; but, being only a man, 
and a young man at that, he merely said, — 

“ Like Cousin Eudora, you aren’t half bad, 
Nathalie. I believe I am rather glad to have 
you here. But you and Peggy do fight.” 

“Yes,” Nathalie assented tranquilly; “we 
fight like the cats of Kilkenny, and that was 
why I tried to exterminate her in the closet.” 

“ Well, what do you fight for ? ” 

Nathalie rested her chin on her fists and 
stared into the fire. 

“ Peggy is trying at times,” she observed. 

“ Possibly.” 

“ And she says I am awfully hard to get on 
with,” she pursued meditatively. 

“ Yery likely.” 

She bounced around and sat facing him. 

“ Do you think so, too, Harry ? ” she asked 
indignantly. 

“ I don’t ; but I can see why Peggy does.” 

“Why?” 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“ You do lord it over her, sister mine. You 
seem to think she is going to mind you ; and 
she isn’t. Peggy finds it hard to mind any- 
body ; she isn’t going to give in to a girl only 
five years older than she is. You manage 
Ralph splendidly ; but you know you do bully 
P^ggy*’’ Harry’s laugh took all the sting out 
of his words. 

“I don’t know but I do,” she confessed, 
after a pause. 

“ But what is the use ? ” 

“ To make her behave herself.” 

“ It doesn’t do one bit of good.” 

“You just watch her in our room for a 
while,” she began tempestuously ; then, as she 
saw his lips straighten, she checked herself. 
“ It’s not fair for you to have all this worry,” 
she said remorsefully. “ When you come home, 
tired out, it is a perfect shame for you to have 
to settle our fights. Truly, I will try to get 
on better with Peggy.” 

“I wish I knew what the matter is with 
Peggy. She sets Fizzums and Ralph by the 
ears ; but she is always meek enough, when I 
am here.” 

“ Because she doesn’t dare be anything 
else,” Nathalie said flatly. “ You are the 


68 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


only soul in ISTew York that she stands in 
awe of, and she puts her best foot forward, 
whenever you are in sight. She’s not really 
sneaky nor ugly, only lawless and cross- 
grained. I believe I don’t get on well with 
girls, anyway.” 

There was a despondent note in her voice, 
and Harry glanced at her swiftly. 

‘‘ That’s a bad state of affairs, sister mine. 
Whose fault is it ? ” ' 

“ Mine, I suppose,” she said grimly. “ The 
odd one is generally the one to blame, and I 
am coming to the conclusion that I’m odd.” 

“ What is the matter, Nathalie ? ” 

She looked up, grateful for his accent of 
quiet respect. Already she had regretted her 
words, for she had a girlish horror of being 
laughed at for ill-considered confidences. His 
tone restored her trust in him. 

“ It’s at the school,” she confessed. “ I 
never had any trouble before ; but here the 
girls aren’t like any I have ever known.” 

“Hot even Hilda?” Harry asked teasingly, 
for he had felt some amusement at the sudden 
intimacy between the two girls. 

“Hilda is the worst of the lot. All she 
cares for is men, men, men ! Harry Arter- 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


69 


burn, I have even heard those girls counting 
up the men they know to bow to, here in 
'Ne^Y York, and, to-night, Hilda let it out that 
she has been scheming for an introduction to 
you, so as to get ahead of another girl. I 
think it is perfectly disgusting. And they 
are so silly, and their jokes are so flat. I like 
fun, as well as any girl ; but I just hate the 
way these girls talk and giggle, and plan how 
they can get around old Fraulein Sohmer, 
when she takes them to places. I believe I 
should like a good, sensible boy for a friend, 
not a young man, but a great, cubby boy 
without any manners and quiddle-de-did- 
dles.” 

“ I wish you had one, Nathalie. I suppose 
most girls do giggle and prink. The honest 
fact is, I supposed you would do it, too, as 
soon as you had the chance ; but it’s a mercy 
to me that you don’t.” 

Nathalie shook her head. 

“ No ; I suppose I am more than half boy, 
Harry. I wish I did care more for the things 
girls like; but I’d a great deal rather grow 
up into a college boy than a Fifth Avenue 
bud. I’d like the gowns and the going to 
things ; but I never could put up with all the 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


to 


flummery and fuss that goes with it. Am I 
queer, Harry ? I don’t want to be.” 

“ It’s a kind of queer that I like, Nathalie.” 

“ Oh, dear, then I am queer ! I did hope 
you would say I wasn’t.” She stared at the 
grate despondently. ‘‘ Harry, I won’t be 
queer; I hate it, hate it even worse than I 
do the way those girls perform. If it’s neces- 
sary, I suppose I can perform, too; but it 
doesn’t seem natural, somehow.” 

“ Perhaps it is because they are older than 
you are,” he suggested. 

She made a wry face. 

“ Then I’ll have to grow up to it, some time 
or other. I won’t. I’d rather go on playing 
dolls till I’m in my dotage. It isn’t sensible, 
Harry, this acting as if you were grown up, 
and flirting, and all that stuff, when a girl is 
in her teens. In that other school where I 
used to be, we played basket ball and tennis 
and those things. All these girls do, is to 
prink, and then go out for a walk. I wish I 
liked it; but I don’t. It’s even worse than 
the everlasting croquet they played in Ches- 
terton.” 

Her brother looked puzzled at her outburst. 

“What do you want to do, Nathalie? I 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


71 


mean, if you had everything your own 
way.” 

“ I don’t know ; I’m not sure. I want to 
amount to something, to do something that 
really counts.” 

“ But what ? ” 

She shook her head in despair over her own 
discontent. 

“ That’s the worse part of it all, Harry ; I 
really don’t know enough to know. All I do 
know is that this other doesn’t satisfy me. I 
feel like a fish out of water, trying to get a 
long breath and flopping about without its 
doing me any good. I’m as strong as a bear. 
I love to be out and about, and I’d like to 
make myself count for things. It makes me 
cross and fretty to settle down here, all the 
time.” 

“ But there is plenty to do here.” 

“No; there isn’t. Cousin Eudora does 
everything ; she says I only get in her way. 
Peggy gets in mine, and we have fights. 
If it were not for you and Kalph, I should 
die; and you are off, ever so much of the 
time.” 

“ Homesick, Nathalie ? ” Harry asked in 
surprise. 


72 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


She lifted her head, and he could see the 
tears shining on her cheeks. 

“I^o; I’m not homesick. I haven’t had 
anything to be homesick for, since papa died, 
and I have forgotten how it would feel. But 
I am lonely. There’s no reason I should be ; 
it’s my own fault, I know, but it is just as 
bad. You see, I don’t belong anywhere. 
Fizzums and Cousin Eudora are great chums, 
Peggy has her friends and Kalph has his. 
Sometimes I feel as if I must go out in the 
park and play with those boys ; but I know 
I’d only be in the way. I have tried hard to 
get on with the girls at school ; but they are 
from the West, and they have lots of money, 
and they think I am poky and queer.” Once 
more her chin went down on her fists. 

“ What about me ? ” 

“You are grown up and busy. You have 
the university and the Barretts and lots and 
lots of friends.” 

“And a young sister,” he supplemented 
gravely. 

“Yes, only you don’t need her.” 

“ Why not ? ” 

“ You have enough else without me.” 

He rose and, bending over, pulled her to her 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


73 


feet, linking his arm in hers, as she stood be- 
side him. 

“ Put that idea out of your head, at once 
and forever, sister mine. We ought to be the 
closest kind of chums. All my life, ever since 
I was grown up, I have envied other fellows 
for having sisters. They always seemed to 
me to have such good times together, doing 
things and going to places. When I came 
home, I was astonished to see how you had 
grown up. I had supposed I should find you 
a little girl. But even then, I didn’t think you 
would care to do things with me. I honestly 
thought you would rather be let alone to go 
your own way. One doesn’t know just how 
a ready-made sister is going to turn out.” 

hTathalie’s lips quivered a little. It was 
four years since any one had spoken to her in 
that tone, four years since she had known 
what it meant really to belong to any one. 
Until lately, she had supposed that she did not 
care, that she was self-reliant enough to go 
through the world alone. Since she had come 
to Hew York, however, she had learned her 
mistake. It was enough for her to watch the 
three younger children together. Disagree as 
they might, there was always between them 


74 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


the strong bond of kinship which conies with 
the growing up together in one household. 
Between them linked with this bond, and 
Harry absorbed in his professional duties, she 
stood alone, and the loneliness was wearing 
upon her. 

With girlish impulsiveness, she had laid 
down her heart at Harry’s feet, on the day of 
her reaching Hew York. His looks, his 
speech, his dress, a certain quiet dignity that 
marked his bearing, all had seemed to her to 
be beyond criticism. She studied him with 
the aloofness of a stranger ; she admired him, 
respected him and felt a good deal of awe of 
him. It was not until a month later, how- 
ever, after she had seen him in the wear and 
tear of daily life and of the management of 
three irrepressible children, that she actually 
loved him. Then, all at once, she realized that 
Harry Arterburn, her very own brother, had 
suddenly stepped into the place, hitherto 
vacant, in the middle of her universe, and she 
tried to persuade herself that she was content 
to adore him from afar. 

Girls like Hathalie are not unusual. Under 
a jovial, happy-go-lucky exterior, they conceal 
an almost limitless power of loving, a limitless 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


75 


craving to be loved. Too often, that side of 
their natures rests hidden. Cousin Eudora 
Evelina always insisted that ITathalie was not 
affectionate. Such an idea did not cross 
Harry’s mind, however, as he stood looking 
into the eyes which were scarcely lower than 
his own. 

“ All right,” he said, after a pause. “ Then 
it is settled. We each need a chum, sister 
mine, so we seem to be provided for. If you 
have been half as lonely as I, since we came 
here, I am sorry for you ; but I was sure you 
would think me too old a fellow to be good 
company. How we’ll take a fresh start and 
begin again.” 

‘‘ And I really won’t be in the way ? ” she 
questioned steadily. 

Harry’s smile was very tender, and his hand 
on her shoulder shook a little, as he said, — 

“ Hathalie, I have lots of friends, good ones, 
too ; but, since that day in Heidelberg when 
the news came to me, this is the first time I 
have felt as if I had anybodj^ who really 
counted for much. Of course, I had you ; but 
you were only eight years old, when I entered 
college, and I didn’t really know you at all. 
I was older than you, when — when they died, 


76 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


and I know better than you what we lost. 
We both of us have been lonely, dear; but 
perhaps, if we try very hard, we can count 
for enough to each other so the rest of it 
won’t much matter. Shall we try, sister 
mine ? ” 

Long afterwards, they both looked back to 
that evening as to the beginning of a new 
existence. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


n 


CHAPTEK SEYEIST 

N athalie was possessed, the next morn- 
ing, with a feeling that she trod on air. 
It had been late, the night before, when she 
and Harry had ended their talk by the fire ; 
and she had gone to bed with the full inten- 
tion of lying awake, half the night, to gloat 
over her new-found happiness. Instead of 
that, the deep sleep of healthy girlhood over- 
came her, and, ten minutes after her head 
touched the pillow, she was quite oblivious of 
either her brother or her past loneliness. 

She waked early to find the daylight just 
creeping into her room. For a minute or 
two, she lay still, trying to think why it was 
that she felt so at peace with the world. 
Then, as she remembered the talk of the night 
before, she felt her spirits rise buoyantly. 
She wished she could see Harry, to assure her- 
self that his mood was unchanged. Dear, 
steady old Harry! How those blue eyes of 
his had looked into her own ! She felt as if 


IS NATHALIE'S CHUM 

all the good things of the world lay in her 
hands, as she thought of him ; and she sat up 
in bed, eager to go to him and continue their 
interchange of confidences. 

“Oh, Nathalie, don’t! You pull all the 
clothes off.” 

Peggy’s fretful voice roused her, and she 
turned to find her sister staring at her in 
sleepy disapproval. 

“ What’s the matter, Peggy ? ” 

“ It’s cold, and you drag all the clothes off 
me. What are you sitting up for? Do lie 
down,” she whined. 

“ I am going to get up.” 

“ What for ? ” 

“ I want to see Harry.” 

“ What for ? ” 

“ To — why, to talk to him, of course.” 

“ It’s too early. Do lie down. I want to 
go to sleep again.” 

“ Go, if you want to. I am going to get up.” 

“ No ; you aren’t. You’ll go splashing and 
bumping all over the room, and then there 
can’t anybody sleep,” Peggy argued, while 
she drew the blankets around her shoulders 
and closed her eyes. “ I should think you 
would feel you were too old to be so selfish.” 


NATHALIE'S GHUM 


79 


“ But it’s time to get up.” 

“ It’s hours and hours to breakfast time. 
Let me alone. I won’t have you take my 
pillow away, ITathalie. Do stop ! ” 

I^athalie looked at the clock. It was nearly 
an hour before Cousin Eudora would ring the 
rising-bell, more than an hour before Harry 
would be visible. He was always so scrubbed 
and starchy at breakfast, she reflected with 
pride. Would he give her a good-morning 
kiss ? Since her parents died, she had never 
been used to such observances; but she had 
read of them in books, and they sounded very 
attractive to her. She wondered vaguely 
what Peggy would do, if she attempted to 
inaugurate the custom by kissing her. Eising 
on her elbow, she tried the experiment. 

“Nathalie Arterburn, if you don’t let me 
alone. I’ll tell Harry. It’s a mean shame to 
wake me up at four o’clock in the morning. 
Let me alone, now ! ” 

And Nathalie meekly turned over on her 
other side and waited for the time to pass. 

“Nathalie ! Nathalie ! Aren’t you ever go- 
ing to get up ? ” Peggy demanded, more than 
an hour later. “ It is only five minutes before 
breakfast, and I want you to comb my hair 


80 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


and button my dress. It does seem as if you 
might be ready to wake up and help me, once 
in a while. Do hurry, for Harry scolds, if 
I’m the least bit late.” 

Ten minutes later, Nathalie entered the 
breakfast-room. She was flushed from the 
haste of her toilet and from the shock of much 
cold water; yet, in some mysterious fashion 
all her own, she had contrived to put herself 
in order, down to the last pin. Harry looked 
up with a smile. 

“ Hullo, chum ! ” he remarked, while he 
caught her and drew her down for a kiss. 
‘‘You look as if something had gone very 
right with you, this morning.” 

“ It hasn’t with me, then,” Peggy observed, 
from her place at the other side of the table. 
“Nathalie waked me up before light. She 
was thrashing round and pulling the blankets 
off me ; and when I asked her what was the 
matter, she just smirked at me and said she 
was going to find Harry. Stupid thing! I 
never can get any sleep in the morning.” 

But her plaint fell upon unheeding ears. 
Harry and Nathalie were laughing hilariously 
at a joke which passed her comprehension. 

Meanwhile, some fifty blocks away, the 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


81 


Barretts were also at breakfast, although 
Kingsley had not yet put in an appearance. 

“ What are we going to do with that fellow, 
Phebe ? ” Mr. Barrett asked despairingly. 

“ If you mean about being on hand at break- 
fast, that is a matter which will right itself in 
time. He grows later and later, every day ; 
and it won’t be long before he just gets around 
in time for to-morrow morning’s breakfast. 
Let Rex work, and he will come out even, in 
the long run,” Mrs. Barrett returned, while she 
poured the coffee. 

“ But really he ought to get up.” 

“ He ought to do a good many things that 
he doesn’t.” 

‘‘True, Babe; but how are we going to 
make him ? ” 

“ I don’t know,” she confessed, after a pause. 
“ I suppose I am really more to blame than he 
is ; but it was so easy to spoil him, when we 
were waiting to see whether he lived or died. 
How the mischief is done, Giff ; and I’m not 
sure I know how to undo it.” 

“ But he will be intolerable, if he keeps on,” 
her husband objected. “ I don’t mean the 
getting up in the morning. I had the same 
failing, myself, and I came out of it, unim- 


82 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


paired. But Kex is getting to feel that he is 
lord of all creation, and it isn’t good for him.” 

“ I wish he had somebody to take it out of 
him,” his mother sighed. 

“ Why don’t you ? ” 

“ Because the sinner has learned how to get 
around me and make me give in to him. I 
never had any trouble with Paul or Lyn ; they 
toed the mark. So did Kex, till he was on his 
back.” 

‘‘ At least, you thought he did.” 

Mrs. Barrett ignored her husband’s sugges- 
tion. 

“But now he has found out all my weak 
points. He either makes me laugh in the 
midst of a lecture, or else shams all manner of 
terrifying symptoms that haven’t the remotest 
connection with the frailties of his anatomy. 
He is bright enough to know that I have wor- 
ried about him until I regard a toothache as a 
manifestation of spinal meningitis, and a cut 
finger as proof positive of weak heart action. 
Why don’t you take him in hand, Giff ? ” 

Mr. Barrett laid down his knife and fork, 
and clasped his hands. 

“ Deliver us ! ” he said fervently. “ I can 
write sonorous opuses ; but I cannot bring up 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


83 


boys. They are yours, Babe. All I can do is 
to lend you the dignity of my chest tones, now 
and then, to eke out your futile falsetto. But 
truly, as you say, Kex needs some one to take 
it out of him.” 

“ It being all sorts of crankiness,” his mother 
interpolated. “ He needs boys.” 

“ He can’t have them yet. Babe. It is of 
no use to think of putting him into a school ; 
he would be on the football team within six 
hours. Morally, he may need boys; physic- 
ally, they would be the death of him.” 

Follow Ted’s example, and prescribe a 
girl.” 

Mr. Barrett laughed. 

“I should pity the girl ; that’s all. Kex has 
never manifested even a germ of chivalry.” 

‘‘Ho matter. Fighting is wholesome,” Mrs. 
Barrett replied tranquilly. “We might ad- 
vertise for a girl to come and snub him, two or 
three times a week, a sort of moral masseusel 

“ How is Mr. Arterburn getting on ? ” Mr. 
Barrett asked. 

His wife shook her head. 

“ Badly, I am afraid. He works hard ; but 
Rex is a trial to him. He has a fine face and 
manner, and he certainly knows how to go to 


84 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


work. Mrs. Lyman says he is called by far the 
best of the new men at the university.” 

“Eex likes him.” 

Mrs. Barrett’s keen eyes clouded. 

“ Yes ; but Kex would try the patience of 
his dearest friend. I have been watching Mr. 
Arterburn, for the last ten days ; and I can 
see that he is losing his pluck. It is a fact, 
Giff. The fellow looks ten years older at 
noon than he does in the morning ; and, each 
day, he comes up the steps with a little less 
alertness.” 

“ What does Kex do to him ? ” Mr. Barrett 
demanded. 

“ He doesn^t. I can’t put my finger on any- 
thing ; it is all negative. Yesterday, I went 
in to speak to Mr. Arterburn, and I took pains 
to leave the door open, when I came out. 
Then I deliberately took my sewing and sat 
down where I could hear them. Giff, if I had 
been Mr. Arterburn, I’d have fiayed Kex. 
He wasn’t rude ; he wasn’t even discourteous ; 
but he was maddening. Mr. Arterburn is a 
gentleman as well as a scholar. He had pa- 
tience and tact enough for a dozen men ; but, 
when he started to go home, I wanted to take 
him in my arms and cuddle him. He is noth- 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


85 


ing but a boy ; and he is at his wits’ end how 
to get any work out of that son of ours. He 
must be a dear fellow to know. Who is he, 
anyway ? ” 

“ Myers told me about him ; he’s a name- 
sake, Henry Myers Arterburn. The father 
was a banker in Massachusetts, lived beyond 
his income, died a week after his wife and left 
this son and four little children. This one has 
been abroad ever since. How he has come 
home, and is trying to make a home for the 
children. It is a crazy thing to do.” 

“ I don’t think so. Anything is better than 
to have a family growing up apart from each 
other. I like his pluck. Is Mr. Myers help- 
ing him ? ” 

‘‘ Yes, and no.” 

“ Knowing Mrs. Myers and her hobbies, I 
suspect it is more no than yes,” Mrs. Barrett 
said viciously. “ Four little children ! He 
must be rather alone here, Giff. Of course, 
he can’t afford to go into things, with such a 
load on his hands. Let’s ask him to dinner, 
next week. Feed a man, and straightway he 
confides in you. Perhaps we can find out 
what he needs, and help him along a little.” 

Mr. Barrett nodded at her approvingly. 


86 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“You’re a good sort of body, Babe. Why 
not have Betty and Percival to meet him ? I 
am sorry Kex is so undesirable. He has no 
business to torment the fellow. I believe I’ll 
go up to Arterburn’s house, this afternoon, 
and have a plain talk with him. It may give 
him a little extra backbone, if he is sure of our 
support. And if you will have it out with 
Kex, and tell him ” 

“ Hullo, Mater ! ” Kingsley interrupted 
cheerfully. “What’s that you are going to 
tell me ? That I am late again ? Sorry. 
You see I went to sleep and forgot to wake 
up. Are there any more hot muffins ? These 
are stone cold, and my digestion is too weak 
to do battle with cold muffins. Ho; one 
lump will do. I’m extra sweet, this morning, 
and don’t need much sugar.” 

Late that afternoon, Hathalie was curled up 
before the fire, devouring Sense and Sensibility^ 
while the heap of peanut shells on the table 
beside her proved beyond doubt that her ap- 
petite was not wholly for intellectual manna. 
She was too much absorbed in her book to 
heed the whirr of the bell ; Eudora Evelina 
was taking a nap, and it was Peggy who went 
to the door. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


87 


“ Is Mr. Arterburn at home ? ’’ the guest in- 
quired. 

“Yes, I guess so.” Peggy’s tone was con- 
versational. 

“ Will you please give him this ? ” 

Peggy took the card and halted on the 
parlor threshold, while she spelled out the 
unfamiliar name. 

“ E’athalie ! Nathalie ! ” she shouted, as she 
led the way into the room. “Here’s Mr. 
Gif-ford Barrett. He wants to see Harry. 
Where shall I put him?” 

Aghast at the apparition of the tall, im- 
pressive stranger, Nathalie sprang up with 
an abruptness which scattered her lapful of 
peanuts the length of the hearth-rug, and 
sent Jane Austen to lie down inside the 
fender. Then she rallied, and advanced to 
greet the guest with a fair share of girlish 
ease. 

“ Oh, Mr. Barrett, come in,” she said, while 
she put up a devout petition that he might 
be sufficiently near-sighted not to discover 
the fragments of her plebeian feast. “Peggy, 
please tell Harry that Mr. Barrett is here and 
would like to see him.” 

But Peggy demurred. She had no inten- 


88 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


tion of being banished from the presence of 
this interesting guest. 

“ I don’t know where he is,” she responded. 

“ In his room. Please go at once, Peggy.” 

“You can go, yourself. I’m not going.” 

IS’athalie looked ominously at her young 
sister; but Peggy, secure from open rebuke 
in the presence of a stranger, stared back at 
her with cynical indifference, and Nathalie 
was forced to yield to the situation and go 
herself to summon her brother. 

“ Yes, that’s my sister Nathalie,” she heard 
Peggy answer to some inaudible question. 
“She thinks she’s going to make me mind 
her ; but that’s where she gets left.” 

And Nathalie passed on out of hearing, not 
quite sure whether she was more appalled at 
Peggy’s frank statement, or at the words in 
which it was phrased. 

Nathalie and Harry came back together. 

“This is my sister Nathalie, Mr. Barrett,” 
Harry introduced her with some pride. 

Mr. Barrett looked at her steadily for an 
instant, as he took her hand. She flushed 
under his keen gaze. Then he laughed. 

“ I know you now,” he said. “ I was sure, 
when I came in, that I had seen you before. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


89 


Aren’t you the young woman who gave a 
negro her seat in a Broadway car, one after- 
noon last month ? ” 

She flushed more hotly than ever. 

“ Oh, dear ! Were you there ? ” 

“ I was.” 

“Were you one of the men I snubbed?” 
she asked, with a desperate frankness which 
proved too much for the gravity of Mr. 
Barrett. 

“ ISTo ; I was at the other end of the car,” 
he answered, when he could regain command 
of his voice. 

“ I am thankful for so much. Wasn’t it 
awful?” 

“Well, no; I thought it was rather good 
fun,” he responded, with a boyish heartiness 
which astounded Harry. Already Nathalie 
was far less in awe of the great composer 
than he had ever been. At a loss as he was 
for the clue to the talk, he could yet see the 
swift establishment of good-fellowship be- 
tween his sister and his employer ; and he 
felt that Nathalie had discovered the true 
Gifford Barrett as he, in his proud reserve, 
had never succeeded in doing. 

“What was there awful about it?” Mr. 


90 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


Barrett went on laughingly. “ I thought you 
were plucky to do it.” 

“I wasn’t plucky; I was mad, not angry, 
but real downright Saxon mad,” she returned. 
“They seemed so contemptible, huddled be- 
hind their newspapers, that I thought I would 
give them a lesson in politeness. Afterwards, 
I was a good deal scared at what I had done, 
and it seemed to me they would never stop 
offering me seats. Next time. I’ll let a woman 
drop, before I get up. I had no idea I was 
going to make such a scene.” 

Gifford Barrett looked after her in amused 
admiration, as she went away, followed by the 
reluctant Peggy ; but he only said, — 

“ I thought your brothers and sisters were 
all little children, Mr. Arterburn.” 

“Nathalie is the oldest. She is just six- 
teen.” 

“ Only sixteen ? She seems older than Rex.” 
He laughed suddenly, as if at some passing 
thought. “She is as independent as Rex,” 
he added. “ They would make a tempestuous 
pair. I came up, to-day, to have a little talk 
about that boy of mine, Mr. Arterburn. I 
am afraid you are not finding him an easy 
pupil.” 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


91 


Harry’s color came. 

“ Does that mean you are not pleased with 
my work, Mr. Barrett ? ” he asked directly. 

“ I am perfectly satisfied with your work ; 
but I’m not at all satisfied with Kingsley. I 
am a good deal disgusted with the fellow, for 
I am sure he is shirking and making things 
hard for you. I wish you would tell me ex- 
actly what you think of the boy and of the 
best way to make a man of him.” 

It was more than an hour afterwards, when 
Mr. Barrett rose to go home. 

“I think we understand each other, Mr. 
Arterburn,” he said, as he paused on the 
threshold. “ My wife and I have spoiled Bex 
completely, and now we are counting on you 
to help us undo the harm we have done. Bex 
is a good fellow and a gentleman ; but he has 
grown selfish and inconsiderate, as well as 
lazy. I’ll have a talk with him ; meanwhile, I 
want you to be sure that Mrs. Barrett and I 
have perfect confidence in any plan of work 
you may think best to adopt. By the way, 
Mrs. Barrett wants to know if you can dine 
with us, next Friday, and meet Mr. and Mrs. 
Percival Ainslee. Mrs. Ainslee is Mrs. Bar- 
rett’s niece, and one of last June’s brides.” 


92 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


CHAPTEK EIGHT 

A FTEK his four years of student life in 
Germany, after three months of living 
in a furnished apartment and eating the 
culinary vagaries which Eudora Evelina 
achieved from the combination of rural menus 
and urban markets, the idea that Harry was 
to dine with the Barretts threw the entire 
Arterburn household into great excitement. 

“ I’m so glad you aren’t homely,” Nathalie 
sighed contentedly, as she brushed the collar 
of his evening coat. 

“Well, he isn’t any too handsome,” Peggy 
observed, from her post by the mirror whence 
she was watching the process of hair-brushing 
with absorbing interest, for the younger 
Arterburns had assembled in Harry’s room to 
look on at the latter stages of his toilet. 

“ Oh, but I’m a good-looking man, Peggy,” 
he returned laughingly. “ You don’t appreci- 
ate me ; that’s all.” 

“Ho; your nose is too puggy, and your 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


93 


hair is too light. I like dark men better,” she 
answered uncompromisingly. Then she re- 
lented. “If it were not for that and your 
glasses, you wouldn’t be so bad.” 

Peggy, you beast, shut up ! ” Ealph ordered 
her. “ If you ever look one tenth as well as 
Harry, you can thank your lucky stars. What’s 
the sense of using two brushes, Hal ? One 
will go for me.” 

“Oh, what do you suppose he will get to 
eat ? ” Peggy said hungrily. “ He will have 
three courses, and maybe four. Do you think 
they’ll give him ice cream ? ” 

“Ho; he’ll have all sorts of filling things, 
and queer, messy sauces on everything. Don’t 
eat too much, Harry, or you won’t be able to 
tutor Rex, to-morrow.” 

“Will he be there ? ” Ralph asked. 

“Of course. They wouldn’t send him to 
bed without his supper. That’s a beautiful 
bow, Harry ; but don’t scrape down your hair 
so flat. It’s too dear, when it curls up at the 
ends.” 

“ Oh, Hathalie, Fizzums has taken the 
razor ! ” Peggy shrieked. 

“Well, take it away from him then. 
Fizzums, put down the knife at once.” 


94 


NATHALIE'S GHVAI 


“But I wants it. I wants to cut wiv it; 
it’s so nice an’ shiny. Oh, I’ve cutted ve 
table all up, it’s so sharp, an’ I’ve cutted 
me ! ” 

Bizzums raised his voice to a wail, and 
Nathalie turned to see the razor drop to the 
floor and a hacked little thumb going into a 
dejected little mouth. By the time plaster 
and consolation had been applied to the injury, 
Harry came in search of his sister. 

“ Oh, you are such a nice gentleman ! ” she 
exclaimed, as she turned him about for inspec- 
tion. “ Keally, I am almost proud of you. I 
never supposed you would look so well in 
evening clothes ; but you aren’t waiter-y a 
bit.” 

“Thanks for the compliment. Have you 
any suggestions to make ? ” 

“ Yes, there is a scrap of lint on your right 
elbow, and I want to fuzzle up your hair a 
little. You would have such pretty hair, 
Harry, if you would only let it grow. And 
wait a minute.” She came running back 
from her own room with a heavy white rose 
in her hand. “ I bought this with my own 
funds,” she said, as she fastened it into his 
buttonhole. “ I don’t know whether men 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


95 


wear things now, or not ; but, if nobody else 
has a rose, you cling to yours, and they will 
think it is a later fashion you’ve just brought 
home from abroad. Now go on, and be sure 
you don’t use a spoon, if you can possibly 
make things stick to a fork.” 

“ I wish you were going, too, chum.” 

She made him a sweeping courtesy. 

“ ‘ Nobody asked me, sir, she said.’ I’m 
not out yet. The worst of it is, I’m not in, 
either. Still, it is a comfort to have you want 
me.” 

An old shoe of Peggy’s crashed against the 
panels, as he closed the door behind him. 
Then the Arterburn family settled down to 
their own belated meal. 

In the Barretts’ luxurious dining-room, a 
merry little party gathered, that night. From 
the first, Harry had liked frank, outspoken 
Mrs. Barrett ; and, at his own table, Mr. Bar- 
rett was neither the great composer nor the 
awe-inspiring employer, but a genial, jovial 
gentleman who, for some unfathomable reason, 
addressed his wife as Babe and teased her and 
his son alternately. Mr. Ainslee was a 
homely, attractive man of the early twenties, 
still too much absorbed in his bride to count 


96 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


for much in the general talk ; and Mrs. Ainslee 
was as simple as Mrs. Barrett, to the manifest 
relief of Harry who had felt some awe at 
sight of her elaborate gown and the diamonds 
in her tawny hair. He had met few society 
women in his life; and from books he had 
gathered the idea that haughtiness and fri- 
volity were the inseparable adjuncts of im- 
ported frocks. Braced to meet a possible 
snubbing, he was astonished to hear Mrs. 
Ainslee ask, as she seated herself next him at 
the table, — 

“ Do you know how to run an elevator, Mr. 
Arterburn ? I do,” she added. “ I have 
always longed to make one of the things go, 
and I confided my aspirations to Aunt Babe. 
Yesterday, coming down in the Inexpressible 
Building, she put on what I call her empress- 
dowager expression, and said to the boy, 
‘ My niece is very fond of running elevators. 
Will you kindly allow her to take this 
down ? ’ ” 

“ Did he?” 

“ Of course he did. Hobody ever dares re- 
fuse Aunt Babe, when she clothes herself in 
her dignity. I succeeded beautifully, only I 
couldn’t stop at the main fioor. I pretended 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


97 


that I had urgent business in the basement, 
and we ignominiously trudged back by the 
stairway.” 

Her brown eyes glistened, as she told of her 
prank, and Harry wished that Nathalie had 
been there. This simple, off-hand family circle 
would have been just to her liking. Anyway, 
he could have the satisfaction of telling her 
about it, when he reached home. During the 
past week, the brother and sister had fallen 
into the habit of a long good-night talk over 
the fading fire. It was hard to say which of 
them enjoyed it the more. Each brought to 
it the full record of the day’s achievements 
and worries ; and Harry was fast finding out 
that even a girl of sixteen was no despicable 
confidante, that Hathalie could listen well, 
sympathize generously and even at times let 
fall a bit of shrewd advice which was worth a 
second thought. 

‘‘ Betty, I do wish you would try not to 
bring disgrace upon the family. Every morn- 
ing, when I take up The 8un^ I expect to see 
your name heading a column of sensation. 
Hew York isn’t Quantuck, and you must have 
some regard for the local laws of decorum.” 

She shot a merry glance across the table at 


98 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


the tall, grave-eyed man who had been in- 
troduced as Dr. Holden. 

“ I won’t say I am your cousin, Mac. I’ll 
shield myself under Uncle Giff’s reputation. 
That is broad enough to cover us all. How 
comes on Opus Seventy-nine, Uncle Giff ?” 

“Badly. I wanted to work, to-night; but 
your Aunt Babe insisted upon having you 
youngsters here.” 

Mrs. Ainslee turned to her cousin. 

“ Kex, is your father’s temper steady, nowa- 
days ? ” 

“ Awful,” Kingsley replied concisely. 

Mrs. Ainslee nodded gravely. 

“That means smouldering genius. Even 
mamma gets a touch of nerves, when she 
comes to the critical chapter of her plot. 
Percival, I am glad you aren’t a genius. It 
would make it very painful to have to live 
with you.” 

“How soon is Aunt Ted coming down?” 
Dr. Holden asked. 

“She is coming back with us, after the 
holidays,” Mrs. Ainslee answered, while Mr. 
Barrett explained, — 

“ Aunt Ted is Mrs. Farrington, Arterburn.” 

Harry raised his brows. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“The Mrs. Farrington?” he inquired. 

Mrs. Barrett laughed. 

“I’ll tell Ted that,” she said. “It will 
make up to her for the people who have never 
heard of her. Yes, she is Theodora Farring- 
ton, and she grinds out books with the same 
zeal that Mr. Barrett grinds out sonatas and 
symphonies. In fact, I think they rather set 
each other on to new attempts, and then race to 
see which can get through first. They both 
had an attack at Quant uck, one summer. 
Our houses are next to each other, and, every 
noon, we used to hear Teddy calling, ‘ Giff ! 
Giff I I’ve done three thousand words. How 
much have you done?’ They reckoned up 
that three bars of piano score equaled one 
hundred words, and they used to balance their 
accounts, every night.” 

“ While you and papa played cribbage, and 
Mac and I cooked fudge,” Mrs. Ainslee added. 
“ I hope you know Quantuck, Mr. Arterburn. 
The whole McAlister clan foregathers there, 
every summer.” 

“ Who are the McAlisters ? ” he inquired. 

There was a general shout. 

“ We all are,” Mrs. Barrett explained. “ My 
father is Dr. McAlister; Dr. Holden is Mc- 

LcfC. 


100 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


Alister Holden, and so it goes. We don’t 
worship our family tree, though, only the 
fruit that hangs on it.” 

“You just ought to see my grandfather I ” 
Kingsley burst out eagerly. “ He is the best 
of them all. He mended m}^ ribs, and he 
thumped me when I was a kid and tore his 
books, and he let me tumble round in his 
office, all day long. He is eighty now ; but 
he’s better company than any other fellow I 
ever knew.” 

Harry glanced up in surprise. Was this 
enthusiastic Kingsley the listless, idle, indiffer- 
ent boy he knew ? At least, this proved that 
he was capable, not only of loyalty, but of 
waking up into energetic, boylike interest. 
The possibility was there, and Harry Arter- 
burn registered a swift vow to succeed in mak- 
ing the enthusiasm permanent, in winning 
some measure of the loyalty for himself. 

Later in the evening, Mrs. Barrett swept 
down upon him, while he was in the midst of 
a cozy talk with Mrs. Ainslee. 

“ Betty,” she commanded ; “ do go and give 
Mac a lecture. Dr. Sauvage says the dear 
fellow is working himself to death and fading 
away before our eyes. He doesn’t look it; 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


101 


but appearances are so deceitful. I wish you 
would go to remonstrate with him; you al- 
ways could bring him to terms. Besides, I 
want Mr. Arterburn to myself. I have things 
to say.” 

Mrs. Ainslee laughed, as she obediently 
went in search of her cousin. Mrs. Barrett 
dropped down into the chair which her niece 
had left vacant. 

“ Mr. Arterburn, I want to borrow one of 
your possessions. Are you prepared to be 
generous ? ” 

‘‘ Down to my last crust.” 

“ One doesn’t borrow crusts ; one begs 
those. This is a sure case of borrowing, to be 
returned later. Mr. Barrett says you have a 
pretty sister.” 

“ I have a pair of sisters. I’m not so sure 
of the beauty of them, though.” 

“ I remember now ; he did say there was a 
little one. I mean the older. Miss JSTathalie. 
That is her name, isn’t it ? She is the one I 
want.” 

“ To borrow ? ” 

“ Yes, or to steal, if 3^ou won’t lend her. Mr. 
Barrett is going to conduct a little thing of 
his at a symphony concert, a week from to- 


102 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


morrow, and of course we have a box. He is 
counting on you to take care of me ; and I’d 
like to borrow your sister to amuse Rex. 
Boys do get so bored at concerts, unless they 
have somebody young to talk to, between 
scenes. I know she isn’t old enough to go out 
much ; but it will be all right for her to be in 
Mr. Barrett’s box. May she come ? ” 

Harry hesitated for a minute, before he re- 
plied, — 

“ She would love to go, Mrs. Barrett, and I 
should be delighted to have her. I ought to 
tell you, though, that she is nothing but a 
child, a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl.” 

“ All the better.” Mrs. Barrett spoke with 
decision. I like girl-y girls, and I have an 
idea I shall like your sister. May I count on 
you both ? ” 

“You may. I wish I knew how to thank 
you, Mrs. Barrett.” Harry looked up, letting 
his steady blue eyes meet her keen brown 
ones. “ It will be a great treat to us both. I 
love music, myself, and I haven’t heard any 
since I left Germany. What is worse, I can’t 
send Hathalie to such things, because — I can’t 
afford it. You were good to think of us.” 

Mrs. Barrett had been watching him fixedly. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


103 


She had seen the slight hesitation and the 
straightening of his lips which had punctuated 
the frank avowal of his lack of means, and her 
shrewd eyes softened. 

“ It will be a real kindness, if you will help 
fill the box,’’ she said. “ Dr. Holden and the 
Ainslees will be there, too. I always make a 
point of taking Kex on such state occasions ; 
but he gets sleepy and looks so disgusted that 
I am in terror lest the critics comment on the 
fact, next morning. If your sister goes, they 
can amuse each other.” 

There was a short silence between them, 
while Mr. Barrett, urged by Mrs. Ainslee, 
seated himself at the piano and played a few 
bars of his new symphony. For the time be- 
ing, Mrs. Barrett forgot her duties as hostess, 
as she leaned back, watching the well-set 
brown head with a pride which in some 
women would have been altogether comic. 
Then, as he rose, she turned back to Harry 
with a new light in her eyes. 

“Mr. Arterburn, I wish you knew how we 
appreciate all you are making of Bex. I have 
been doing my best to spoil the boy, and I 
know you are having a hard time with him. 
But — well, I am his mother, and Kex talks over 


104 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


most things with me. I thank you from the 
lowest valve of my heart for the patience you 
have with his crankiness and whims. You are 
helping him, even if you can’t see it yet ; and 
I only hope you will stand by him until you 
have helped us make a man-child of him once 
more. He is my baby, you know, and he was 
so desperately ill ; but now ” 

“ Babe,” Mr. Barrett called, from across the 
room ; “ when you get through with Arter- 
burn, I’d like to show him my German photo- 
graphs. They may help make him homesick.” 

Half an hour later. Dr. Holden was standing 
at his aunt’s elbow, when Harry bade her 
good-night, and he noted the look of gentle- 
ness which was softening her handsome face. 

“ Saturday night, then, Mr. Arterburn,” she 
said cordially. “ And I wish you would get a 
trick of dropping in upon us often. It is good 
for Kex to have you coming and going, and 
I’d like another boy to spoil. Ho ; never 
mind if you are busy. You can cut something 
else, if need be, to make time for us.” 

Dr. Holden and Harry Arterburn went 
away together. Half a block from the Bar- 
retts’ door, the doctor broke the silence. 

“ Aunt Babe is a brick,” he said meditatively. 


NATHALIE'S GHUAI 


105 


CHAPTEK NINE 

“ TD what on earth shall I wear ? ” 
1 J Nathalie said ruefully, that night. 

She said it again, the next morniug, while 
she was helping Cousin Eudora Evelina to 
clear the table. 

“What do you want to wear?” Eudora 
Evelina asked. 

“Something pretty, so that Mrs. Barrett 
needn’t be ashamed of me.” 

“ Pretty is as pretty does,” Eudora Evelina 
remarked sententiously. 

“Maybe, up on a Vermont farm; but Pve 
an idea that not even my best manners could 
make a frumpy gown pass muster at a New 
York concert.” 

Eudora Evelina glared at her. 

“ Vermont is as good as New York, I guess. 
Friimjp ain’t a word we hear much up there, any- 
how. I had to come to New York to learn it.” 

Nathalie digested the rebuke in silence. 
Then she reiterated, — 


106 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“ But what shall I wear ? ” 

“Your church dress.” 

“ My — what ? ” 

“Your best dress, the blue one, I suppose; 
whatever you would wear to church.” 

“But I don’t wear my best clothes to 
church ; it’s vulgar,” l^athalie remonstrated. 

“ I’d like to know why.” 

“ Why ! It looks as if you didn’t have any- 
where else to wear them.” 

“Well, I hain’t,” Eudora Evelina responded 
flatly. 

Eudora Evelina belonged to the tribe of 
women whose collars and coiffures increase in 
elaborateness as the day goes on, yet only 
attain their maximum development when an 
outing is in prospect. E^athalie, who had been 
trained to other manners, looked with disfavor 
upon Eudora Evelina’s loose dressing sacks 
and the grove of curl-papers that rustled about 
her peaked, parchment-colored brows; and 
upon divers occasions, she had implored Harry 
to demand a more SBsthetic appearance from 
the priestess of the breakfast-table. 

However, there was one thing for which to 
rejoice. When the work was done, Eudora 
Evelina invariably took herself away to her 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


107 


own room, where she sat sewing and rocking 
with a vigor that jerked both feet from the 
floor at every stitch so regularly as to suggest 
a concealed wire connecting her hands and 
feet, and allowing but one to be extended at 
a time. Daily and after every meal, by means 
of a rocking-chair, Eudora Evelina churned 
herself into a species of Nirvana whence she 
emerged, refreshed, to prepare the next meal 
and wash up the dishes. 

“ If I was you, I’d wear my blue dress,” she 
advised, after a pause. “It looks good and 
warm and sensible, and blue always becomes 
you.” 

“ But it is so dark,” Nathalie protested. 

“Land alive! You don’t want a white 
dress, at this time of year ; do you ? What’s 
got into you, Nathalie ? To hear you fret, I 
should think you wasn’t any older than that 
Peggy.” 

Nathalie set down a pitcher with a bang, 
and fled to her own room. She was suddenly 
discovering that an unexpected invitation is 
not always an unmixed boon, and she felt a 
childish desire to cry. Instead, she rummaged 
her closet and brought out the least impossible 
items of her wardrobe. She had spread them 


108 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


on the bed, and she sat staring dolefully at the 
meagre array, when the door opened and 
“that Peggy,” as Eudora Evelina invariably 
called her, came bouncing into the room. 

“ Well, what now ? ” she demanded. “ Are 
you going to Europe ? ” 

“ No ; I am going to that concert, and I 
haven’t a rag that is fit to wear.” 

It was Saturday morning, no school, and 
Peggy had just been told that she could go to 
a children’s matinee with the family of a 
friend. In consequence, she was in high good 
humor, as she looked at the little heap on the 
bed. 

“ Ask Harry to get you something, then.” 

“I’d wear my nightgown first. Harry 
Arterburn has all he can do to feed us, with- 
out buying me any new gowns.” 

Child though she was, Peggy flashed upon 
her sister a quick look of admiration. 

“Why can’t you wear your pink lawn?” 
she asked practically. “ It is all covered with 
those fuzzy little rufiies, and you can have my 
great big white sash to wear with it ; that is, 
if you won’t drop things on it,” she added, in 
a momentary recoil from her unwonted gener- 
osity. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


109 


“Peggy, you are a genius, dear. I never 
thought of that gown.” Nathalie caught her 
young sister impulsively and stooped to kiss 
her ; but Peggy wriggled out of her clutches. 

“If you do that sort of thing, Nathalie 
Arterburn, I won’t let you have the sash,” she 
threatened. “Maybe I won’t, anyway. I 
don’t know as you really need it, and it would 
be too bad to smash it all up for nothing.” 

However, when the evening came, Peggy 
stood true to her offer and of her own accord 
produced the sash, her single bit of finery, in 
honor of the occasion. Then she settled her- 
self, Turk fashion, in the middle of the bed, 
and sat looking on while Nathalie brushed out 
and braided her mop of wavy golden hair. 

“ No, not that,” she said critically, as her 
sister took up a pink ribbon. “ Tie your hair 
with black velvet, same as you always do. 
Colored things in the hair are horrid.” 

“ How do you know ? ” Nathalie asked. 
“ You don’t go to places of this kind.” 

“ I don’t need to. I know some things of 
myself, and that is one of them,” Peggy said, 
with lofty decision. “ When I’m old enough, 
I am going to be a milliner, or else a wonder- 
ful beauty. Either way, I can have all the 


110 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


ribbons I want, and I’ll know how to wear 
them, too. Now let me tie the sash. You’ll 
be sure to muss it ; you’re so careless.” 

Nathalie submitted as meekly as if their 
ages had been reversed. Then Peggy drew 
back and surveyed the result. 

“ You really do look sweet,” she said grudg- 
ingly ; “ but there is one more thing you must 
have. Wait a minute; but don’t you dare sit 
down on my sash.” 

She vanished in the direction of the kitchen, 
where Eudora Evelina was still clattering the 
dinner dishes. 

“ Cousin Eudora, I want your gold beads,” 
she demanded abruptly. 

“ Well, you won’t get them. They’re willed 
to your Cousin Dora,” Eudora Evelina re- 
turned tranquilly. 

“I don’t mean after you are dead. That 
wouldn’t do me any good. I want them now, 
to-night.” 

“ My soul ! Don’t break that platter. 
What for ? ” 

“For Nathalie to wear. She is all ready to 
go, and she needs your beads to finish her up.” 

“ But I never take them off.” 

“Well, I suppose you can, if you try. They 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


111 


don’t grow to you ; do they ? Please let me 
borrow them, just this once. Harry won’t 
like it, if Nathalie doesn’t look right, and you 
can come to see for yourself that she does 
need them. Come ! ” She pulled imperiously 
at one of the soapy hands. 

Eudora Evelina yielded, a grim, unwilling 
victim to Peggy’s impetuosity. On Nathalie’s 
threshold, she halted and stared at her from 
top to toe. 

‘‘If you catch your death of cold in that 
summer dress, you needn’t expect I’m going 
to nurse you,” she said tartly ; but, even as 
she spoke, her fingers were busy with the 
string that tied her old-fashioned beads. 

Kingsley was drumming on the piano, when 
the man ushered Harry Arterburn and his sis- 
ter into the room, that night. He possessed 
rather more than his lawful share of snobbish- 
ness, and he had manifested no interest at all, 
when his mother had announced that the 
Arterburns were to be of their party. His 
tutor was well enough, as tutors went; but 
his tutor’s sister was probably a shy, poky girl 
with elbows enough for a dozen. He looked 
up indifferently, as they came in. 

The next minute, he was on his feet and 


112 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


close at his mother’s side. In crossing the 
room, JN'athalie’s cloak had slipped from her 
shoulders, and she stood revealed, a tall, slen- 
der girl who walked as freely as if she had 
spent her life on the golf links, who was 
dressed as daintily as any girl in his own ex- 
clusive dancing class. He could not be ex- 
pected to know that her gown came from a 
midsummer bargain counter in Boston ; it was 
enough for him that it was pink and fluffy and 
becoming, and that the black bow which tied 
her yellow hair had a saucy cock to it that 
was in harmony with her dimples and with 
the spirited poise of her head. 

“ Yes, I’m here, too. Mater,” he interrupted 
impatiently. “You might as well introduce 
me, while your hand is in.” 

Even during the moment of introduction, 
Nathalie looked him over critically. Instinc- 
tively she realized that his purple was royal, 
his linen very fine. Kingsley Barrett was 
plainly a gentleman’s son, albeit his tall, thin 
figure, his long nose and straight sandy hair 
were unbeautiful to look upon. He stooped 
slightly, his motions were languid and, at rest, 
his face was fretful; but his mouth showed 
her that he could discover the point of a joke, 


NATHALIE'S GHU3I 


113 


and she liked the look in his gray eyes which 
seemed to her to go far towards redeeming 
him from actual ugliness. 

‘‘ Yes, the pater has gone on ahead,” he ex- 
plained, as they entered the carriage. He 
likes to get into the feel of the place before- 
hand, when he is going to conduct. Have 
you ever heard any of his things ? ” 

“ I’ve never heard any music to speak of,” 
she answered evasively. 

“ What’s the matter ? Don’t you like it ? ” 

‘‘ I haven’t ever had a chance to tell.” 

“You’ll like the pater’s. It is sweet; but 
it’s got the go to it, lots of brasses and things.” 

Nathalie looked up uncomprehendingly. 
She wondered if he alluded to andirons. 

“ Brasses ? ” she repeated. 

“Yes, horns and that sort of thing. It 
makes you feel queer and spooky, when you 
listen. How do you like Hew York?” 

“ I just love it.” 

He laughed at her enthusiasm. 

“ It’s a jolly sort of place. Do you know 
many people here ? ” 

“ Ho ; not anybody but the girls at my 
school, and I don’t care for them.” 

“ What’s the school ? ” 


114 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“ Madame Zavenski’s.’’ 

“ I know it ; it’s a good place, has piles of 
pretty girls there, Westerners mostly. They 
are a frisky set.” 

“ Too frisky for me,” IS'athalie said abruptly. 
Then she checked herself. “ My brother 
speaks of you often,” she added primly. 

Kingsley smiled at her change of tone. 

“ I’ve an idea he does. He is having a bad 
time of it with me. What does he say about 
it?” 

For a minute, Nathalie struggled with her 
sense of decorum. Then her dimples came, 
and she looked up roguishly. 

“ That you are not overburdened with too 
much zeal for learning.” 

Kingsley’s laugh rang out jovially. 

“He has struck the root of the matter. 
But what is the use of my learning a lot of 
stupid trash, just for the sake of forgetting it 
again ? How honestly. Miss Nathalie, do you 
like to study ? ” 

“Hot at school,” she confessed. “I never 
had a tutor.” 

“ Lucky you ! I wish I didn’t.” 

“ That’s not nice to Harry,” she retorted, a 
little too sharply for politeness. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


115 


“ He is the best of the bunch that applied 
for the job.” 

The last word was unfortunate, and Kings- 
ley’s tone was a bit toploftical. It nettled 
his companion. 

“ I suppose he was. Else you wouldn’t have 
hired him,” she answered shortly. 

Kingsley eyed her askance. His look ex- 
pressed admiration rather than annoyance, 
although as a rule he was accustomed to be 
treated with more meekness by the girls to 
whom he deigned to talk. This intrepid 
young woman was a new species to him. 

“ Of course. Your brother is all right. 
Miss Nathalie ; it’s only that I’d rather be 
in school.” 

“ Why don’t you go, then ? ” Her accent 
was still slightly hostile. 

Kingsley’s face reddened. How that he had 
allowed himself to be cornered, he suddenly 
realized that he was reluctant to confess any 
weakness to the vigorous girl at his side. He 
took refuge in a half-truth which unhappily 
did little to recommend him in Hathalie’s eyes. 

“ Too many fellows of all kinds in a school,” 
he said languidly. “ I didn’t care about run- 
ning up against them.” 


116 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“Oh, the hateful little snob!” was IsTath- 
alie’s mental comment. “ He probably feels 
that same way about Harry and me.” And 
she refused to be lured from her silence 
until she found herself seated between Mrs. 
Barrett and Mrs. Ainslee, with Kingsley 
out of sight somewhere in the back of the 
box. 

“Yes, I was out with Mac again, to-day,” 
Mrs. Ainslee was saying to her aunt. “ Per- 
cival doesn’t mind, and Mac does love to have 
me in his train. Oh, but some of the children 
are pitiful to see 1 ” 

“ I am only afraid Mac will lose you ; he is 
such an absent-minded fellow. Your mother 
would have a fit, Betty, if she thought you 
were prowling around the East Side.” 

“Hot with Mac. She knows he will take 
care of me,” Mrs. Ainslee answered, with a 
smile at her tall cousin who leaned on the 
back of her chair. “Besides, it is heredi- 
tary in the McAlister family. Both you and 
mamma have had aspirations towards slum- 
ming. It has remained for Mac and me to 
accomplish it.” 

Hathalie was eagerly waiting for Mrs. 
Ainslee to reach a full stop. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


in 


“ Oh, do you go to the East Side ? ” she 
broke in. 

“ l^ow and then. What do you know about 
it ? ” Mrs. Ainslee asked. 

“ Nothing, only that it is there. I didn’t 
know even that until lately. I supposed New 
York was all like Fifth Avenue, or else apart- 
ment houses like ours. Is it really as bad as 
they say ? ” 

At the sound of the earnest young voice. 
Dr. Holden turned and bestowed upon Nath- 
alie the first real attention he had vouchsafed 
her. Apparently he was pleased at what he 
saw. 

“ Worse, Miss Nathalie,” he said gravely. 
“With the one great exception, the people 
who write about it, know it only from what 
they see in the streets. A doctor knows the 
best and the worst of it.” 

“ But you don’t do any doctoring there ; do 
you ? ” she said blankly. 

“ Why not ? ” 

“ You — you don’t look it,” she returned 
naively, with a glance at his evening clothes. 

“ My cousin gives half his time to tenement 
work,” Mrs. Ainslee explained proudly. “ He 
has an up-town office; but he puts the very 


118 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


best of himself into his care of the tenement 
children.” 

“ And you go with him ? ” 

Nathalie asked the question with some 
hesitancy. Up to this time, she had associated 
charity work with sharp noses and spectacles 
and brown shoes with crumply toes. It 
seemed to her incredible that Mrs. Ainslee and 
Dr. Holden could know or care for such things. 

“ I was with him, to-day. Sometimes I go 
alone.” 

“ Aren’t you afraid ? ” 

“ Not in places where they know him. The 
fact that I’m cousin to Dr. Holden is all the 
protection I need.” 

“ Oh, I wish ” Nathalie began im- 

petuously. Then she paused. 

Mrs. Ainslee smiled. She was not so far re- 
moved from her own girlhood as to have lost 
her understanding of the girl at her side. 

“ That you could go with me ? ” she supple- 
mented. “Well, why not, if your brother is 
willing? But now we must listen to the 
music.” 

It was Tschaikovsky’s great s^^mphony in 
D minor which opened the programme, that 
night ; but it must be confessed that Nathalie 



% 





k 


NATHALIE'S GHmi 


119 


listened with more astonishment than admira- 
tion. Tune there was none, and some of the 
harmonies sounded horribly inharmonious to 
her untrained ears. She stole a furtive glance 
at her brother to see if he were as disgusted 
as she at the bedlam of sound which issued 
from the orderly ranks of the orchestra ; but 
Harry’s face was rapt. She looked from him 
to Dr. Holden who was also devoutly listening. 
Even Kingsley in the back of the box seemed 
to be of the same mood, so she wisely con- 
cluded that the fault must lie in herself, and 
tried to listen as devoutly as the others. For 
a time, her eyes were as busy as her ears, and, 
girl-like, she reveled in the gowns and the 
jewels before her. Then at last she forgot 
them all, and lost herself completely in the 
climax of the Lamentoso. 

“ What do you think of it ? ” Kingsley’s 
voice demanded, in the hush that followed. 

She gathered herself together with a jerk 
and too suddenly to give time for choosing her 
words. 

“ I never heard anything like it before,” she 
answered breathlessly. “It makes my back 
feel as if it were all drawn up into creepy 
little ridges.” 


120 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


CHAPTEE TEN 

OOK in hand, Fizzums advanced to meet 



o Kingsley in a series of short tacks, like 
a yacht in a heavy sea. 

“See, Mr. "Wex Bawwett, vis is what 
Fizzums got, when he was — vaccinated.” 

“ What is it ? ” Kingsley asked, with the 
painstaking courtesy of one unused to small 
children and anxious to make a good im- 
pression. 

“ Yis ? Yis is my Jesus-book. Yey gave it 
to me for being vaccinated.” 

Kingsley took the Testament from the 
pudgy hands. 

“ IPs a fine one,” he said, with an effort at 
enthusiasm. “Did it hurt to be vaccinated, 
Fizzums ? ” 

“ No ; only kind of swashy.” 

“ What ! Where did they do it ? On your 
arm ?” Kingsley’s voice expressed his horror 
at the idea of such wholesale blood-letting. 

Fizzums shook his head. 


NATHALIE'S GHU3I 


121 


“ On your leg, then ? ” 

“ No ; up in ve middle of my head.” 

“ They must have a strange breed of doctors 
in Vermont,” Kingsley remarked, half to him- 
self. 

“Ye doctor doesn’t do it,” Fizzums explained 
disdainfully. “ It’s ve minister in ve church. 
He holds yon vviv one hand and swashes on ve 
water wiv ve uvver, an’ says fings, an’ it gets 
in your ears ; but you mustn’t cwy, even if it 
is cold. Nobody cwies in church.” 

“ What do they do ? ” 

“Go to sleep. Vat’s what Cousin Vedowa 
does, only she won’t say so. Once she snored 
up big, an’ Walph an’ Peggy laughed, an’ she 
was mad. Mr. Wex Bawwett?” 

“Well?” 

“ I want you to tell me twuly, no joking ; 
what is a snob ? ” 

“It’s a — I don’t know how to tell you, 
Fizzums. Why ? ” 

“ ’Cause Nathalie says you’re a nawful snob.” 

Kingsley turned scarlet, and he half arose 
from his chair; but Fizzums babbled on dis- 
cursively. 

“ Have you ever been in a cemingtewy, Mr. 
Wex Bawwett ? ” 


122 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


‘‘ISTo; I can’t say I have,” Kingsley re- 
sponded guardedly, questioning meanwhile 
whether Nathalie had also alluded to him as a 
corpse. 

‘‘I have. I went wiv Cousin Yedowa. It 
was lovely in ve cemingtewy, Mr. Wex Baw- 
wett. Yat’s ve place where people’s spiwits 
have gwown out into fwowers. Wouldn’t you 
like to go vere an’ gwow out into a fwower, 
Mr. Wex Bawwett ? ” 

“ Some day ; not now.” Kingsley was be- 
ginning to wonder impatiently how long it 
would take Peggy to find her sister. It was 
his first introduction to the younger members 
of the Arterburn family, and he devoutly 
trusted that they were not all so friendly and 
loquacious as this tow-headed babe with the 
rapt smile. 

“ Why don’t you want to go now ? ” Fizzums 
persisted, with the zeal of a professional re- 
vivalist. “Your body would back up to 
heaven, just ve way ’Lijah did, an’ your spiwit 
would gwow out into a fwower. What sort 
of a fwower would you like best to be, Mr, 
Wex Bawwett?” 

“ A sunflower,” Kingsley answered desper- 
ately. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


123 


FizzuLns drew near, rested his hands on the 
knees of the guest and stared up into the 
freckled face with an intent scrutiny which 
proved embarrassing. 

“ I fink you’re more like a tiger lily,” he an- 
nounced, after a pause. 

“ Fiz-zums ! ” Nathalie exclaimed in con- 
sternation, as she appeared on the threshold 
just in time to catch his last words. 

It was a week after the concert, and the two 
young people had not met in the meantime. 
Their first evening together had not resulted 
in the friendly relations for which Mrs. Bar- 
rett had hoped. Kingsley was ready to play 
the agreeable to Nathalie; but Nathalie, too 
proud to let herself run the risk of being 
snubbed, had borne herself haughtily, and, 
after the unlucky speech of Kingsley, she had 
met his advances with a chill dignity which 
both piqued and attracted him. For the past 
week, he had been scheming how he could 
meet her again ; and he had readily fallen in 
with his mother’s suggestion that he take her 
down to an exhibition, that afternoon. He 
had dressed for the event with an unusual de- 
gree of care, and now it was somewhat annoy- 
ing to have his hoped-for impression spoiled 


124 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


by the critical speech of Fizzums. For a min- 
ute, his eyes met those of I^athalie, and his 
flush deepened. Then the embarrassing pause 
ended in a burst of laughter. 

Are you ready, Miss ISTathalie ? ” he asked, 
as he rose to meet her. 

“ Keady for what ? ” 

“ For the exhibition. Didn’t Mr. Arterburn 
tell you ? ” 

Harry ? Ho ; he didn’t say anything 
about an exhibition. Did your mother send 
me a message ? ” 

“Ho ; I did. I want you to go down with 
me to see a set of Swede etchings. The mater 
isn’t going to use her cards. Mr. Arterburn 
should have told you.” 

His tone expressed a haughty displeasure, 
and Hathalie immediately took offense. 

“Please remember, even if you do scold 
about your tutor, you have no right to speak 
like that to me about my brother,” she said 
sharply. 

For a moment, Kingsley stared at her in 
amazement. Then he burst out laughing. 

“ Oh, I say,” he remarked persuasively ; “ I 
wouldn’t be so touchy, if I were you. Your 
brother is all right, only I didn’t think he 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


125 


would be the fellow to forget a message. 
But it’s not too late now. Won’t you 
come ? ” 

“ Thank you, I think I won’t.” Nathalie’s 
accent was uncompromising. 

“ Why not ? Don’t you care for pictures ? ” 
Yes.” 

« Why not, then ? ” 

“ I’d rather not, to-day.” 

‘‘ That’s no reason at all. Are you mad be- 
cause I wasn’t meek enough to suit you about 
your brother ? ” he demanded a little angrily, 
as, he suddenly recalled Fizzums’s use of the 
word snob. 

“ That’s one reason,” she admitted. 

‘‘ But I’ve apologized for that, and it doesn’t 
count. What’s another ? ” 

“Mr. Wex Bawwett,” Fizzums admonished 
him suddenly; “you mustn’t get mad wiv 
Nathalie. If you do, Cousin Yedowa won’t 
give you any cookie, all ve week. Yat’s what 
she did to me, an’ ven Nathalie an’ me had to 
give each uvver a ” 

“ Thank you, I believe I will go, after all,” 
Nathalie interrupted. “I’ll be ready in a 
minute.” And she left the room. 

Early November had brought cold, stinging 


126 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


weather and a flurry of snow ; but Nathalie 
scorned any suggestion of cars. 

“ If there’s time, let’s walk,” she urged. “ I 
never get tired of these streets. It is like run- 
ning a race with all the world.” 

“It will be a long race, to-day,” he sug- 
gested. 

“How long?” 

“ Four miles.” 

“ Oh, that won’t take very long,” she said 
blithely. “ I am used to a great deal longer 
walks than that, and it is so early.” 

“ But we always take a car down town.” 

“ Time you learned to walk, then.” 

In spite of his misgivings, Kingsley looked 
at her admiringly. Dauntless and eager, she- 
was like the spirit of the windy day, and her 
bright hair and animated face were glowing 
against the dark background of her coat and 
hat. Beside her superb vitality, he felt him- 
self a weakling, and nothing would have 
tempted him to admit that he quailed at the 
prospect of the four-mile tramp before him. 

“When are you and Betty going slum- 
ming ? ” he inquired, as they swung around 
the corner into Broadway. 

“Betty?” 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


12T 


“Yes, Mrs. Ainslee. She is my cousin, you 
know.” 

“ You are the most mixed-up family ! Are 
you all related to each other ? ” 

“ All the family ? ” 

“ I mean all of you who were in the box, 
that night.” 

“Yes, one way or another. Mac’s mother 
was the oldest, then Betty’s mother. She is 
Aunt Ted. Then came my mother. There 
are two brothers. One of them never mar- 
ried ; the other did, but he hasn’t any chil- 
dren.” 

“ You have some brothers, too ? ” 

“A pair of them in Yale. I’m the youngest 
of all the cousins, and Betty is the only girl. 
No wonder we spoil her.” 

“Are all girls supposed to be spoiled?” 
Nathalie inquired, laughing. 

“Yes, of course. Aren’t you ? ” 

“ No ; I wish I were. It must be great fun ; 
but girls have always been a drug in the 
market, where I have been. Besides, I am 
more than half boy.” 

“ Don’t you need a boy chum ? ” Kingsley 
asked audaciously. 

“ Thank you, I have one.” 


128 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“ Who ? I beg your pardon ; it is none of 
my business, though.” 

She laughed frankly. 

“There’s no secret about it; it is Harry. 
We do have such fine times together. I never 
had a real chum before ; I was always the odd 
one.” 

“Me, too; but I haven’t got over it.” 
Kingsley’s tone was a little envious. 

“ You ? ” Nathalie looked incredulous. 

“Yes, I never really belonged anywhere. 
The boys pair off, and the pater and mater. I 
used to wish we could adopt an extra one, to 
match up with me.” 

Kathalie nodded gravely. 

“ I know how that is. I went through it 
always, until I had Harry. It’s an awful feel- 
ing, too. You long and long to count for a 
great deal to somebody or other, and all the 
time you are sure that there isn’t a soul who 
really needs you.” 

Kingsley’s eyes rested upon her thought- 
fully, while she was speaking. 

“ That’s about the way it goes,” he said. 
“ I suppose with me it has come because I have 
been out of things so long that all the sets are 
full, and there’s no especial room for me. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


129 


Everybody, girls and all, is so blasted athletic, 
nowadays, that I’m left by myself a good 
deal.” He paused, surprised at his own free 
speech. 

Nathalie looked up at him with a wave of 
impulsive liking. For the instant, she forgot 
that she was talking to the boy whom she had 
so lately dubbed a snob. 

“There is always room for you at our 
house,” she said kindly ; “ that is, if you care 
to come.” 

“ I’d like to, if I won’t be in the way. I’ve 
been trying to get your brother to ask me; 
but he wouldn’t take a hint, no matter how I 
put it.” 

“He probably thought you wouldn’t care 
to come to such a little bit of a place,” she an- 
swered. “ Now you have seen it and have had 
a specimen of Fizzums’s conversation, the risk 
is yours. Come whenever you like.” 

“All right; it's a go, then,” he responded 
heartily. “ I hope I shan’t wear out my wel- 
come. Miss Nathalie ! What in thunder ? ” 

For Nathalie suddenly had left him and 
darted across the crowded street. Between 
the passing drays, he could see her standing 
face to face with a red-necked man. 


130 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“ What are you doing to him ? ” she was 
demanding fiercely, as Kingsley came up to 
her side. 

‘^Teaching him not to follow me, when I 
tell him to go back.” The man raised his 
cane again. 

Nathalie grew white with anger, as she 
pointed to the cowering dog at her feet. 

“ If you touch him again, one single other 
time, I will call a policeman,” she said slowly. 

The man surveyed her from head to heel, 
looked into the white face and the blazing 
eyes. There was no doubt of her being in 
earnest. He swung around and whistled to 
the cringing, shivering little beast to follow 
him. 

“Might I inquire ” Kingsley was be- 

ginning, when Nathalie interrupted him. 

“ He was beating the dog, just pounding 
him, and I couldn’t stand it.” 

“ So I inferred.” 

“ You needn’t laugh at me. I stopped him.” 

“For the time being,” Kingsley replied 
cynically. 

“ What do you mean by that ? ” 

“That he will thrash the dog worse than 
ever, as soon as he gets round the corner.” 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


131 


IsTathalie glared at him as if he had been 
the chief offender. 

“ Do you honestly think so ? ” 

“ Of course. Hold on ! What are you go- 
ing to do, Miss Nathalie?” For Nathalie 
was starting off in hot pursuit of the man. 

‘‘ I am going to make him give me that dog.” 

“ You’ll get yourself into a scrape.” 

“ Don’t care if I do.” 

“And you’ll get an extra dog on your 
hands.” 

“ What of it ? I’m not going to stand by 
to see him abused.” 

Deliberation over a crisis was never Nath- 
alie’s plan of action. She did her deeds in 
haste and repented of their consequences at 
leisure. Ten minutes later, she had resumed 
her walk down town. Curled into the hollow 
of her arm was a small, bleary dog in whose 
veins coursed a strange mingling of many 
bloods. Kingsley eyed him askance. 

“ What are you going to do with him ? ” he 
asked. 

“ Keep him until I can find a good home for 
him.” 

“ But now, till we get home from the ex- 
hibition ? ” 


132 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“Take him with us, and bribe the umbrella 
man to check him.” 

“ Miss ISTathalie ! ” Kingsley remonstrated. 
“ Do you mean to say that you are going to 
perambulate the length and breadth of Fifth 
Avenue, lugging that raw-boned little cur ? ” 
Nathalie cast a mischievous glance at her 
immaculate companion ; then she smiled pro- 
tec tingly down at the dog’s indeterminate 
nose. 

“ Poor little thing ! ” she said sweetly. 
“ See how good and quiet he is ! He isn’t a 
bit heavy ; but, if I should get very tired, you 
wouldn’t mind carrying him for me, part of 
the time ; would you ? ” 

As they came out from the exhibition, two 
hours later, Nathalie once more shouldered 
her canine burden and prepared to walk 
home. It had been well for her that her com- 
panion possessed a liberal allowance. It takes 
no meagre fee to induce Twenty-third Street 
officials to harbor stray dogs; but Kingsley 
had been generous, in his relief at the idea of 
freeing himself even temporarily from the 
creature. They came back to find the crea- 
ture tangled in a network of string and howl- 
ing piteously. Kingsley looked at him with 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


133 


disfavor, while Nathalie bent down to free 
him. The three Barrett boys had owned a 
succession of thoroughbred dogs, and Kingsley 
found little to admire in this waif who ap- 
parently had clothed the frame of a dachshund 
with the coat of a Yorkshire, the ruff of a 
collie and the tail of a pug, and then dyed the 
resultant equation to an unlovely mud-color. 
His jaw was undershot, one ear bore marks of 
a recent fray and worst of all, he was dis- 
tressingly cross-eyed. 

The last knot yielded, and Nathalie rose, 
holding the dog against her shoulder and 
against her ruffled yellow hair. 

“Isn’t he cunning?” she asked, laughing 
gayly at the rumbling little growls that issued 
from the dog’s throat. 

Kingsley looked from the snarling, smutty 
muzzle to the brilliant girlish face, and he 
yielded, as any other boy would have done in 
his position. 

“Very,” he said meekly. “Let me take 
him to the car.” 

Nathalie’s face fell. 

“ Oh, can’t we walk home ? ” 

“ Not to-night. It’s too far.” 

“ But I’m not tired.” 


134 


NATHALIE'^S CHUM 


He bit his lip for a moment. 

“ Maybe not ; but I am,” he said shortly. 

“You! And you’re a boy,” she answered 
mockingly. 

Suddenly she remembered, and her face 
grew scarlet. 

“ Oh, I’m so sorry ! ” she exclaimed in inco- 
herent penitence. “I forgot. You oughtn’t 
to have walked down, in the first place. Why 
didn’t you tell me ? ” 

“ Oh, that’s all right,” he said reassuringly. 

“ But you look perfectly tired out. I am a 
wretch not to have thought of things. Do 
you suppose I have done anything to you ? ” 

“I’m not so fragile as all that. Come 
along. Here is our car.” 

Nathalie never dreamed of the utter weari- 
ness of her companion, nor yet of the mental 
anguish he suffered, as he boarded the crowded 
car, bearing in his arms the mongrel puppy. 
However, she was nervous and ill at ease, for 
his pallor frightened her, and she was con- 
vinced that he needed the one seat in the car 
much more than she did. He gave a sigh of 
relief, as he dumped the ungainly dog into 
Nathalie’s lap. 

“I wish you would take this seat,” she 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


135 


urged ; but he shook his head with a decision 
she dared not gainsay. 

Only once more she broke the silence. 

“I think I will call him Nicodemus,” she 
said reflectively. “ He will be good company 
for Fizzums.” 


136 


NATHALIE'S GHU3I 


CHAPTEK ELEVEN 

“XTO; really it is nothing serious,” Dr. 

A \ Holden assured Harry Arterburn, 
the next morning. “ Kex isn’t strong yet, and 
he has his ups and downs. I advised him to 
keep still and to take a vacation, to-day. He 
will be all right, to-morrow.” 

“ Sure ? ” 

“ Yes. You don’t need to worry over your 
pupil. He has done this before.” 

‘‘ What brings it on ? ” 

“ It is more than I can tell. He came in, 
last night, completely done up, couldn’t eat 
any dinner and went right to his room. His 
mother has no idea what upset him. He had 
done something or other imprudent, most 
likely, and was ashamed to tell of it.” 

Harry looked uneasy. 

“ What sort of thing, Holden ? Exercise, or 
feasting ? ” 

“ Oh, exercise. The fellow wants to be an 
athlete, and he hasn’t the strength for it.” 


NATHALIE'S CHU3I 


13T 


“Do you know, I have an idea that my 
young sister may have had a hand in his 
downfall,” Harry said thoughtfully. 

“ Miss Nathalie ? ” 

“ Yes. I don’t mean that she abused him 
intentionally ; but they were out together, in 
the afternoon, and Nathalie is a lusty young 
Amazon, tough and strong as a hickory stick. 
Even she confessed to feeling tired, last night. 
To my certain knowledge, they walked down 
to Twenty- third Street, and carried a ten- 
pound dog a good share of the way with 
them.” 

Dr. Holden whistled a dozen bars of Gijpsey 
John with careful precision. Then he spoke. 

“ To — Twenty-third — Street ! Arterburn ! 
It is four miles to Twenty-third Street from 
your house, and that fellow hasn’t walked 
eight consecutive blocks for a year and a 
half. What in thunder were they thinking 
of?” 

Harry drummed impatiently on the table. 

“ Most likely he was thinking of Nathalie, 
and she wasn’t thinking of anything at all, ex- 
cept having a good time. Confound them for 
a pair of crazy children ! Do you think she 
can have done any lasting harm, Holden ? ” 


138 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“IS'o ; he will be all right in a day or two. 
Your sister will be good for him, Arterburn, 
provided she doesn’t kill him. I have opposed 
a boys’ school for him, for fear of what might 
happen, and I assure you I am not going to 
allow him to be slaughtered by the sister of 
his tutor. Let them frisk together, whenever 
they choose; only see that she works off a 
little of her superfluous energy in other direc- 
tions. At least, I think she isn’t likely to 
coddle Eex, and Aunt Babe has petted him to 
death.” 

Harry laughed. 

“ You can’t tell what Nathalie will do. She 
is systematically spoiling my young brother 
Kalph ; but she lords it over Peggy with an 
iron rod. She is a dear girl, though ; and she 
will be a mere lump of remorse, when I tell 
her about Eex.” 

“ Don’t tell her, then.” 

“I must, if only to prevent further catas- 
trophe. Will Mrs. Barrett be very wroth at 
Nathalie?” 

“Ho; she was just such another girl, her- 
self, so she can’t say much. Besides, she has 
taken a great liking to your sister.” 

“ That is a good thing for Hathalie,” 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


139 


“Better than you know,” Dr. Holden re- 
plied quickly. “ Aunt Babe doesn’t like every- 
body, and her friendship is worth the having. 
I think she means to have your sister here at 
the house a good deal, this winter.” 

“ I’m not sure,” Harry demurred ; “ that ” 

Dr. Holden understood, and stopped him 
abruptly. The two young men had met often, 
during the past two weeks. Their friendship, 
based upon the discovery that they were 
twins, had grown upon the foundation of the 
same university and of kindred tastes. Harry 
remembered seeing a yellow-haired junior 
named Holden in the front row of seats in the 
chapel choir, and standing on the end of the 
glee club at his own commencement concert. 
The boy had attracted him ; the man he ad- 
mired exceedingly. 

“ISTow look here, Arterburn,” Dr. Holden 
was saying; “don’t have any false pride in 
this business. Aunt Babe is no snob ; but she 
has it in her power to be very nice to strangers 
in Hew York. However, you may be very 
sure she won’t do it, unless it suits her own 
sweet will. She won’t spoil Miss Hathalie, 
and you can rest assured that she won’t be a 
cureless chaperon, for we all of us hate pre- 


140 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


mature society girls. Aunt Babe is as sen- 
sible and simple as it is possible for a woman 
to be. She likes your sister, and she thinks it 
is good for Eex to have a girl around, now and 
then. That doesn’t mean she expects you to 
swap invitations with her, or to dress and live 
as Uncle Giff wishes her to do.” 

“Thanks, Holden,” Harry said briefly. “I 
wish all fellows could be as matter of fact.” 

“Fewer misunderstandings, if they were. 
I thought we might as well have it out. By 
the way, Mrs. Ainslee wants you to let her take 
Miss Nathalie down into Hester Street, some 
day. Are you willing ? ” 

“ Ye-es, if it is safe. I don’t want Nathalie 
to run any risks, of course.” 

“ You needn’t worry. Betty is my especial 
chum, and I look out for that. Mrs. Ainslee 
goes down to Seward Park, once a week, and 
she thought Miss Nathalie might like to go 
with her.” 

“I’ll tell Nathalie. And you think Eex 
will be all right in the morning ? ” 

“Yes. I hope he will be ready for work, 
by that time.” 

However, he was not, nor on the next day, 
either. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


141 


The third afternoon brought a flushed and 
anxious caller to Mrs. Barrett’s door. 

“Why, Nathalie, dear, I am glad to see 
you,” Mrs. Barrett said, as she came into the 
room. 

Nathalie wasted no time in circumlocutions. 

“ Mrs. Barrett, what have I done to Kex ? ” 

“ Done to him ? ” 

“ Yes. I walked him too far, and I wouldn’t 
take a car, when he wanted to, and he carried 
Nicodemus for me — Nicodemus is the dog 
we found — and I suppose I half killed him,” 
she concluded in a remorseful outburst. 

In spite of herself, Mrs. Barrett laughed. 
Then, as she caught Nathalie’s look of hurt 
indignation, she grew suddenly grave again. 

“ Why, Nathalie dear, I hope you haven’t 
been worrying over this.” 

To her intense mortiflcation, Nathalie felt 
the hot tears rush to her eyes. 

“ I have, lots,” she said forlornly. 

“ But it wasn’t your fault. Kex should have 
told you.” 

“ Boys never tell things. It is supposed to 
be a girl’s place to know them of her own ac- 
cord, without any telling.” 

Mrs. Barrett’s mind went back to certain 


142 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


chapters of h^ own healthy, objective girl- 
hood. 

“They don’t, though, hTathalie,” she said. 
“ I was perpetually making blunders, myself. 
I’m sorry about Eex. He is a good deal under 
the weather just now ; but it is his own fault. 
There was no reason you should suppose he 
couldn’t follow your lead.” 

But Nathalie refused to be comforted. 

“ Harry told me he had broken himself to 
pieces somehow,” she answered. “ It was be- 
fore I knew him, so I didn’t think much about 
it. He looks healthy, and it never occurred to 
me he couldn’t do a little thing like taking a 
walk. The boys I have known, could tramp 
around, all day long, the girls, too, for that 
matter. Down here, I feel like a Medusa, or 
a Minerva, or a — a something.” 

Mrs. Barrett suppressed a smile. Her young 
guest’s mood was too penitential to allow her 
to classify her myths. Nathalie sat silent, for 
a moment, gazing steadily into the shrewd, 
kindly eyes before her. 

“I don’t fit in here,” she said abruptly. 
“ Everything goes wrong.” 

“What is the matter, dear? You mustn’t 
worry any more about Eex.” 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


143 


“It’s not just Eex; it’s everything,” Nath- 
alie said desperately. “This is one of the 
days when I feel as if I hadn’t a friend any- 
where. The secret of it is, I wasn’t meant for 
the people here; I’m all out of joint with 
them, out of joint and cross. I didn’t get on 
with the girls at school; but I was just begin- 
ning to like Kex, and now ” 

“ And now ? ” 

“ Now you won’t any of you want to see me 
again, nor think I have a particle of sense. 
If I’d been a proper kind of girl, I’d have had 
a mysterious warning that he was getting 
tired. But I don’t have mysterious warnings. 
I suppose it is because I am too selfish. Mrs. 
Barrett,” she looked up suddenly; “I don’t 
know why I am telling you this.” 

“ Because you are sure I will understand,” 
Mrs. Barrett replied promptly. 

“ Yes, that is the reason. Most people don’t 
understand. I have tried to talk to Cousin 
Eudora ; but Cousin Eudora is Christian 
Science, and she wants to treat me for what 
she calls my maladjustment to psychic law. 
Peggy says that it is nothing in the world but 
bad temper, and I am beginning to think 
Peggy is about right. Harry is a dear and a 


144 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


comfort ; but Harry is a man, and there are 
some things that even he can’t understand.” 

Without rising, Mrs. Barrett turned and 
took the girl’s hands into her own strong ones. 

“ Kathalie,” she said kindly ; “ I am glad 
you could say this to me. My little daughter 
only lived a month ; you haven’t any mother. 
But we both know that every girl has worries 
to talk over, that it is ever so much more 
healthful to have them out and discuss them 
with some other woman. Any girl who is 
worth her salt has her times of feeling that 
she doesn’t fit into her place. We’ve all been 
through it again and again.” 

“ What’s the reason of it ? ” Nathalie asked 
impatiently. 

“I don’t know. Something comes all at 
once and rubs us the wrong way, and we feel 
as if everybody were out of temper with us, 
and we with everybody. With me, it was a 
question of keeping busy, if I wished to pre- 
vent it, and of going to work harder than ever, 
if I wanted to cure it.” 

“ What did you do ? ” 

Mrs. Barrett laughed. 

“ Everything I oughtn’t, and a few things I 
ought. We were a large family without too 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


145 


much money, and there was always enough to 
do.” 

“There are five of us, and no money to 
speak of,” I^athalie said bluntly ; “ but there 
doesn’t seem much for me to do.” 

“ Who is housekeeper ? ” 

“ Cousin End ora.” 

“ Who acts as parlor maid ? ” 

“ She does, when it gets done.” 

“ Lazy ITathalie ! And who mends ? Kalph 
alone ought to keep one woman busy.” 

“Cousin Eudora does the mending. She 
Says I don’t do it well enough.” 

“Learn, then.” 

“ Who will teach me ? She says it is easier 
to do it than to teach some one else.” 

“I will.” 

“ You ? ” Nathalie stared at her hostess in 
amazement. 

“Certainly. Don’t you suppose I know 
how?” 

“ N — no. I didn’t suppose you had to.” 

Mrs. Barrett frowned ; then she smiled. 

“ Everybody has to, at some time or other, 
Nathalie ; and everybody ought to learn to do 
it. If I had a dozen daughters, I would teach 
them all to patch and darn neatly, to make a 


146 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


plain gown and to cook a plain dinner. No- 
body knows when she will need to do it, for 
somebody else, if not for herself. What would 
you do, if your cousin were ill ? ” 

“ I don’t know,” the girl answered blankly. 
“ I never thought of that.” 

Mrs. Barrett shook her head. 

“I am afraid you would come to an un- 
timely end by starvation. Because you know 
how to do things is no sign that you will have 
to do them. Deliver'^ me, though, from a help- 
less girl who can’t mend her own stockings 
nor bake her own bread. She may have a 
career or not, as she chooses ; she must be fed, 
and she must be trim.” 

Nathalie flushed, as she recalled the contents 
of her chiffonier; but Mrs. Barrett, who had 
never beheld the chiffonier, laid the flush to 
another cause. 

‘‘It is different with you, dear child,” she 
said more gently. “ You haven’t had a mother 
to teach you these things. I am only telling 
you what I believe in teaching a girl. There 
would be less nervous prostration among the 
mothers, if I had my way.” 

“ But if you don’t actually do any of these 
things, what’s the use of your knowing how ? ” 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


147 


Mrs. Barrett laughed. 

“ ISTathalie, I made every stitch of this gown 
I have on.” 

“ Mrs. Barrett ! What for ? ” 

“ Because I like to keep busy, and to prove 
that I can do something besides pouring tea 
on Wednesdays.” 

“ How did you know how ? ” 

‘‘ I blundered for a while. Then I went to 
a good school of design, and took some les- 
sons,” she answered coolly. 

Nathalie stared from neck to hem of the 
dark cloth gown. 

“ It doesn’t look home-made a bit,” she said 
wonderingly. 

“ I didn’t intend that it should.” 

Nathalie drew a long breath. 

“ Mrs. Barrett, I supposed that only poverty 
people made their own gowns,” she said 
thoughtfully. “ I believe you have given me 
some new ideas.” 

“ I meant to.” Mrs. Barrett rose, still hold- 
ing Nathalie’s hand. ‘‘Now come into the 
library and see Kex.” 

“ But I don’t think he’ll want to see me,” 
Nathalie protested. 

“ I’ll risk that. He hasn’t been out for three 


148 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


days, and he is sick of the sight of me. Be- 
sides, you mustn’t shirk. If you can’t turn 
cook and tailor yet, at least you can amuse 
Eex for an hour. Come.” 

It was rather a limp and languid Kingsley 
who rose to greet them, and Nathalie’s re- 
morseful mood came back upon her. His first 
words, however, proved the death-blow to any 
sentimental emotions she might have ex- 
perienced. 

“Hullo!” he said jovially. “How is that 
brute of a dog ? ” 

“ So’s to be barkin’,” she replied, dropping 
into Eudora Evelina’s pet idiom. “When I 
left home, he and Fizzums were eating potato 
out of the same dish.” 

“ Meals at all hours ? ” 

“No; just plain lunch.” Then, as she 
glanced at the clock on the mantel, she looked 
horrified. “ Mrs. Barrett, do you mean that I 
have been here for more than an hour ? ” 

“I mean that you are going to stay to 
dinner,” Mrs. Barrett answered. “Take off 
your hat, while I telephone to your cousin. 
Mr. Barrett will take you home, or Dr. Holden. 
Bex needs somebody to play with.” 


NATHALIE'S CHU3I 


149 


CHAPTEE TWELVE 

“ he’s well enough ; but he doesn’t be- 

long to our crowd.” 

“J^either do I,” I^Tathalie retorted. 

‘‘ Why not, I’d like to know.” 

“Because I don’t. You know it as well as 
I do. Your mother is angelic to meward ; but 
your friends don’t invite me.” 

“ They don’t know you.” 

“ Some of them do. Some others could, if 
they cared to. Marie Syncoxe met me at din- 
ner at your house, your birthday. I remember 
her because she wore so many rings, and ate 
her olives with her fork. She has never 
bowed to me since then.” 

Kingsley stared moodily into the fire. 

“ Don’t you care,” he observed. 

“I don’t,” Nathalie said flatly. “I don’t 
care the least bit to know that kind of people ; 
but I do care when a boy with brains and — 
well, enough ancestors to count, talks about 
Our Crowd with capital letters, and includes 


150 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


that Marie Syncoxe and leaves out Adams 
Warren.’' 

“ But, really, he doesn’t have anything to do 
with us.” 

“Who’s us?” she demanded, regardless of 
grammar. 

“ Why, the ones in our street, and the danc- 
ing class, and — and ” 

Nathalie stared at him accusingly, while he 
stumbled on towards a full pause. When the 
pause had grown long enough to suit her, she 
broke it. 

“ Kingsley Barrett,” she said slowly ; “ I 
think you are a horrid little snob.” 

His color came. 

“ So Fizzums told me, the first day I made 
his acquaintance.” 

“ I’m sorry Fizzums had such bad manners ; 
but that doesn’t change my opinion of you. 
Moreover, there isn’t any excuse for your 
being snobbish.” 

“My people are as good as anybody,” he 
flashed out. 

She clasped her hands on her knees and 
eyed him tranquilly. 

“You needn’t be so hot-headed about it. 
That is just what I was telling you. If you 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


151 


were new-rich or something, one Avould ex- 
pect you to be touchy about ‘ Our Crowd.’ ” 
Her dimples came, as she mouthed the words 
in saucy imitation of her companion. “ As it is, 
when you’ve brains and ancestors and reputa- 
tion belonging to your family, I really don’t 
see why you should trouble yourself to care.” 

“ Don’t you care ? ” 

“Yes,” she confessed; “awfully; but not 
in the way you do. I’d like my friends to be 
the very nicest people in all Hew York ; but 
there’s always the question of what you mean 
by nice. I mean like your mother and Mrs. 
Ainslee. They go their own way and do as ' 
they wish, without caring a scrap whether 
their names are in the society columns or not. 
They know they are nice, and so there is no 
need for them to advertise the fact.” 

“What about Aunt Ted?” Kingsley in- 
quired. 

“I haven’t seen her yet. I know I am 
going to be disappointed in her, though. You 
all praise her too much.” 

“ I’ll risk it. Aunt Ted is a trump.” 

“ Like your mother ? ” 

“Some people like her better. I don’t,” 
Kingsley replied tersely. 


152 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


‘‘You’d better not; I’m not going to. 
There aren’t many women who would do as 
much for their own relatives as she has done 
for Harry and me.” 

Nathalie spoke truly. Mrs. Barrett was a 
woman who went her own wayward way. As 
a rule, she was considered haughty and ec- 
centric; but there were a few people who 
were in a position to dispute the truth of such 
a statement. Among these few had been 
Percival Ainslee; among them were Harry 
and Nathalie Arterburn. Mrs. Barrett’s lik- 
ings were governed by a law peculiar to her- 
self. Like lightning, one never knew where 
they would strike. Wealth and social position 
mattered not one whit to her; gentle birth, 
pluck and independence counted for far more 
than any outward show. Woe betide the 
social pretender who came to her for sym- 
pathy! Mrs. Barrett could bless; she could 
also ban, and, all in all, her banning was a 
good deal more active process than her 
blessing. 

She had liked Harry Arterburn from the 
start. She liked him for his eyes, and his 
manners, and his plodding patience in dealing 
with her freakish son. She liked him even 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


153 




better, when she came to know the detail of 
the fight he was making to hold together the 
large family on his hands. 

“ Fancy Mac in loco parentis / ” she said to 
her husband, one night. “ The dear boy 
could do almost anything ; but I doubt if he 
could manage that situation. Mr. Arterburn 
is just his age, and would care just as much to 
frisk around bachelor New York. He is 
handsome and presentable; if he had come 
alone, Mrs. Myers would have taken him upX^4^^' ^ 
and introduced him. She isn’t going to do % 

anything for him that will involve those' f 
children, though ; she is too shaky on her own 
pedestal to risk that. Do you remember the 
day Mr. Myers called on Ted? But I like 
Mr. Arterburn, even if his evening clothes do 
date from his sophomore year, and I intend to 
help him along.” 

She was as good as her word. By Christ- 
mas, the two older Arterburns were as much at 
home in her house as were the Ainslees them- 
selves, and Mrs. Barrett often dropped in at 
the apartment, to assure herself that all was 
as it should be with the little ones. 

“ Peggy and Ealph are well enough ; but I 
abhor that Fizzums infant,” she confessed, 


154 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


after one such call. “However, my whole 
soul goes out to Eudora Evelina Shaw. She 
is so near-sighted that I expect she’ll set fire 
to her curl-papers, some day, and burn up the 
apartment. I never fully enjoyed my medical 
training till now ; but I like to hurl test cases 
of surgery at her, and see how she will pre- 
scribe for them. But, Mac, I can’t see how 
Harry Arterburn is able to pay the bills for 
that establishment. He deserves a very spiky 
crown in the next world, to make up for what 
he is doing here.” 

“ I am afraid he will get it sooner than he 
wants to,” Dr. Holden responded grimly. 

“ Mac ! What do you mean ? ” 

“ That, if he doesn’t call a halt, he will go 
to pieces.” 

“ Is he overworking ? ” 

“Like a slave, and worrying, too. The 
worry is worse than the work. I had a long 
talk with him, to-day. Once started, he made 
a clean breast of things. He is bound he 
won’t get into debt; but it takes literally 
every cent he earns, to keep his family moving. 
I advised him to ship them back to Vermont; 
but he is determined to keep them together as 
long as he can. I hear he is doing stunning 


NA THALIE'S CHUM 


155 


work at the university, and is sure to be ad- 
vanced in his department. He would get 
famous, if only he had a free hand.” 

“ What did he say about Eex ? ” 

“Hot much; but evidently Eex is doing 
better. Arterburn’s present scheme is to get 
some writing to do, evenings. He can’t stand 
the strain of it; but he needs the money. 
When it isn’t rent, it’s provisions ; and when 
it isn’t provisions, it is clothes. Aunt Babe, 
the poverty poor don’t begin to have as hard 
a time as the ones who are struggling to keep 
their heads above water, and know that, if 
once they get into debt, they are doomed.” 

All the rest of the evening, Mrs. Barrett sat 
musing by the fire. As a result of her musing, 
she sent a note to Hathalie, the next morning. 

“ Good child to be so punctual ! ” she said, 
as she took possession of Hathalie’s hat, two 
days later. “Ho, Eex; we don’t want you. 
We are going to shut ourselves up behind 
locks and bars, and no man can set foot within 
the sacred precincts.” 

Hp-stairs in Mrs. Barrett’s room, the bed 
was covered with breadths of dark red cloth. 

“Anything will do to practise on, and it 
seemed too bad for you to cut up new stuff for 


156 


NATHALIE'S CEU3I 


your first attempt/’ she said, as she turned 
over the pile to show the quaint embroidered 
trimming underneath ; ‘‘ so I had this old 
gown of mine ripped and pressed. It ought 
to be large enough, and it won’t be a serious 
matter if we do spoil it.” 

“ But, Mrs. Barrett ” Nathalie de- 

murred. 

“ There is no hut about it, my dear child. I 
promised to teach you a few of my tricks. 
People used to open their eyes over my home- 
made frocks ; but I took especial pains to in- 
form them of the fact, whenever I had one of 
them on, and now they consider it merely an 
eccentricity of genius. They will think the 
same of you ; and really it is very good fun.” 

“ I know ; but the taking your gown ! 
What will Harry say ? ” 

“ That you are a wise child, and know what 
is sensible.” Then Mrs. Barrett grew grave. 
‘‘Nathalie, for Harry’s sake as much as for 
your own, I want to teach you all I can, to 
help you to be independent. It will take off 
just so much of his load, if you can do some of 
your own and Peggy’s sewing, instead of hir- 
ing everything done. You are old enough to 
begin now. About this gown, I shall never 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


157 


wear it again ; and it is ever so much better to 
have it do somebody some good than to let it 
lie and gather moths. JS’ow for your first 
lesson in dressmaking ! Where is the meas- 
ure ? ” 

Ten days later, Nathalie sat in her own 
room, telling Fizzums a story while she took 
the finishing stitches on her gown. The story 
concerned itself chiefly with Daniel, and Fiz- 
zums, who was nothing, if not realistic, had 
constructed a lions’ den of chairs in the midst 
of which he and Nicodemus sat enthroned, a 
chubby Daniel and a lanky and lantern-jawed 
lion. Nathalie, meanwhile, was sewing dili- 
gently and no more awkwardly than any 
novice would have done. Ten days of infinite 
patience had accomplished their work, and 
Nathalie was justly proud of her task. 

“ Nathalie,” Peggy said, as she appeared on 
the threshold ; “ Miss Hilda Lancaster is here.” 

“ Bah ! I wish she had stayed at home,” 
Nathalie grumbled. “ Mrs. Barrett is coming 
at four, and I wanted to finish this first.” 

Daniel scrambled out of his den, upsetting 
the lion who, forgetful of his role, had fallen 
asleep with his snubby nose between his paws. 

“ Nathalie,” he observed with prophetic 


158 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


fervor; “vat isn’t ve way to talk. You 
doesn’t say vat about peoples till after vey is 
gone.” 

“Hilda has only just come,” Nathalie re- 
torted. “ She will probably stay till time for 
dinner, and spoil all my afternoon.” 

“Why don’t you take your sewing with 
you ? ” Peggy suggested. 

“ She would think I was horrid.” 

“Let her think, then.” 

“I believe I will.” And Nathalie threw 
her work over one arm and took her Siwash 
basket under the other. 

Hilda met her effusively. 

“ I’m so glad you have some work. What 
a sweet basket ! It is shaped just like the 
Cup of the Grail; isn’t it? I brought my 
lace- work with me.” She unrolled a piece of 
pink cambric half-covered with braid and in- 
tricate knots. Then she looked across at 
Nathalie. “ Don’t you just hate to mend ? ” 
she asked sympathetically. 

“This isn’t mending; it’s making,” Nath- 
alie assured her. 

“Keally? Eeally and truly?” Uncon- 
sciously her tone took on an accent of pity ; 
then she changed the subject, with a conscious 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


159 


air of relieving an awkward situation that ex- 
asperated hTathalie. “ What do you think of 
my lace ? ” she asked, as she spread it over her 
lap. 

Nathalie surveyed it with an indifference 
which was not wholly genuine. 

“It is ever so pretty. How can you have 
patience to fuss with it, though ? ” 

“ It doesn’t take so very long. I only be- 
gan this piece, last month.” 

“Last month! And it’s nothing but a 
collar. I made all this gown in ten days.” 

“ Not all alone ? ” 

“ Ye-es, with a little showing and some help. 
Next time, I can do it all. I’d rather do 
something like this, that counts when it is 
done, than work for weeks and weeks and 
weeks on just a little scrap of coarse lace.” 

In whistling to keep up her courage, Nath- 
alie had piped too loud a tune. She had 
spoken truthfully in saying that she would 
never have had patience to do such work as 
Hilda’s ; yet at heart she coveted the dainty 
collar. But Hilda, who had begun the collar 
with a view to Nathalie’s birthday, had no 
means of reading her friend’s real thought. 
Accordingly, she became exasperated in her 


160 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


turn, and her voice went up a full octave, as 
she observed, — 

“ Of course I know you don’t have time for 
fancy work ; but I have all my things made at 
Delamerre’s, so I don’t have to fuss about 
clothes, after they’re once ordered.” 

“ ISTo ; I suppose not. Still, I should think 
you’d like to do something for yourself, once 
in a while.” In her resentment, Nathalie for- 
got entirely of how recent birth was her own 
zeal. 

“ Oh, but it’s so much more fun to do things 
for somebody else,” Hilda returned sweetly, 
as she ran her needle around and around a 
group of threads and then drew them up into 
a complicated knot. 

“ Something useful, then.” Nathalie jerked 
her own thread impatiently. 

“This is useful enough for me. Nobody 
makes her own gowns, nobody that can afford 
to have them made, I mean.” 

Nathalie’s thread knotted, then broke. 

“ There does, too,” she said brusquely. 

“ Who, then ? ” 

“Well,” Nathalie raised her head, as she 
dealt her blow; “Mrs. Gifford Barrett, for 
one.” 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


161 


Hilda’s father had paid the bills for many a 
music lesson, and Hilda had spent many an 
hour in strumming away at a certain Alan 
Breck Overture which always eluded her fin- 
ger-tips. 

“ The composer’s wife ? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ How do you know ? ” Hilda’s accent was 
incredulous. 

“ Because she told me.” 

“ Told — you ? ” 

“ Yes. Why not ? ” 

“Do you — know her?” The Westerner is 
a true hero- worshipper, and Hilda’s tone was 
charged with awe. 

“ Of course,” Nathalie replied airily. 

“You really know, know to talk to, Mrs. 
Gifford Barrett ? ” 

“ Who is that who knows me ? You, Nath- 
alie ? How do you do, child ; and how comes 
on the gown?” Mrs. Barrett asked, as she 
followed Kalph into the room. 

Nathalie sprang up to greet her, regardless 
of the gown which slid to the floor in an un- 
tidy heap. Hilda remained just long enough 
to be able to say that she had grasped the 
hand of the wife of a celebrity and to note 


162 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


with envy the apparent good-fellowship exist- 
ing between Mrs. Barrett and her friend. 
Then she took her departure. 

“E’ow, I^athalie!” Mrs. Barrett said, as 
soon as the guest had gone. 

IS’athalie, secure in the knowledge that for 
once she had subdued Hilda’s superior mind, 
linked her arm in that of Mrs. Barrett and 
led the way to her own room. To be sure, 
there was now no one but Kalph to be im- 
pressed by the little gesture of familiarity; 
and, in her truer moments, Nathalie herself 
would have been the first one to scout it as 
rank snobbishness. For the moment, how- 
ever, she was left hurt and sore by Hilda’s 
tone of worldly contempt, and she needed the 
solace of feeling that, even if she did make 
her own gowns, she had friends such as Hilda 
could never hope to win. Her pride was 
high ; it mounted higher, as she tried on the 
pretty red gown and turned herself about for 
inspection. Then it had a fall. 

“ Your collar needs catching down, here on 
the right shoulder,” Mrs. Barrett said critic- 
ally. ‘‘ Where are your pins, Nathalie ? ” 

“ In the tray.” 

“It is empty. No; don’t move till I 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


163 


have fastened it. Where can I get some 
more ? ” 

I’m not just sure where they are. You’d 
better look in the top drawer of the chif- 
fonier,” Nathalie answered, in the subdued 
voice of one who dares not so much as turn 
her head. 

Mrs. Barrett evidently took the last words 
as a joke, and she laughed lightly. Then she 
went to the chiffonier and opened the drawer. 
Even by way of the mirror, Nathalie could 
see the laugh die out, and a look of utter 
consternation take its place. 

‘‘ What’s the matter ? Aren’t they there ? ” 
she asked faintly. 

As a rule, Mrs. Barrett never withheld her 
opinions. Now, however, she made an heroic 
effort at self-control. 

“ I — I don’t seem to see them,” she said. 

Nathalie crossed to her side and plunged 
both hands into the drawer. 

“I was sure I saw a paper of pins some- 
where here, yesterday.” She scooped up a 
double handful of ribbons and collars and a 
glove or two, and tossed them on the bed. 
Then she made a fresh dive. 

Mrs. Barrett eyed her with a disgust in 


164 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


which no amusement was mingled. The third 
dive brought out a leather belt, a white silk 
necktie and a tasseled fan, mingled in an in- 
extricable tangle, and Mrs. Barrett could con- 
tain herself no longer. 

“ Nathalie,” she said, with a severity which 
the girl never forgot; “I call that place a 
rat’s nest, not the drawer of a lady. If I 
were you, I would teach myself to be orderly, 
and let the sewing go for a while.” 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


165 


CHAPTEK THIKTEElSr 

“ ‘ An’ tickled ve tail 

Of ve gweat — big — whale 
Wiv a ten-penny nail,’ ” 

sang Fizzums. 

Ensconced in a great splint rocking-chair by 
the kitchen window, Fizzums was engaged in 
his post-prandial duty of rocking himself to 
sleep. To-day, however, he appeared to be 
suffering from acute insomnia. 

“ Oh, my shole ! ” he yawned disconsolately. 
“ I don’t feel asleepy any, an’ vis by-low chair 
squawks awful, when it wocks fast. 

‘ An’ tickled ve tail 
Of ve gweat — big — whale 
Wiv a ten-penny nail. ’ 

Yat must have been Jonah, ’nless ’twas N^oah, 
only ISToah wouldn’t have had a whale in ve 
ark, ’cause vere wouldn’t have been woom for 
ve nefalunt. Maybe ’twas ve Childwen of 
Izwel in ve Wed Sea.” 

He sat up abruptly and looked about him. 


166 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“ Cousin Yedovva isn’t here, an’ I don’t feel 
asleepy. I fink I will go an’ be naughty 
awhile now, an’ ven ve next time she’ll me- 
r ember to give me some scassium bugs. Oh, 
vere vey are ! ” 

He scrambled out of the depths of the chair 
and crossed the room to the table. His chubby 
nose was only just on a level with the table- 
top ; but he raised himself on tiptoe to seize 
the coveted dainty. From the wilds of Yer- 
mont, Eudora Evelina had imported a liking 
for cassia buds, and her pockets were never 
without this stony delicac}^ which would have 
wrecked the teeth and sapped the gastric 
juices of any but a Christian Scientist. Peggy 
in her turn had developed the appetite to a less 
degree; but Fizzums knew no less degree in 
his likings. He begged for “ scassium bugs ” 
until Eudora Evelina dared give him no more. 
Then he went to her closet and rifled her 
pockets. His rosy lips sucked off the sugar 
coating, and left the hard stubs of spice for 
Cousin Eudora’s elderly jaws to crack. 

Yese are vewy hard scassium bugs,” Fiz- 
zums observed, after an interval; “an’ vey 
makes my teef vewy uncomfytable. I fink I 
will leave ve insides of vem for Cousin Ye- 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


16 T 


dowa. She is older van me, an’ her teef is 
stwonger van mine is.” He extracted the 
buds from his lips and put them back on the 
table. ‘‘How what is vere for me to do? 
Let me fink.” He seated himself on the fioor 
under the table and pondered for a space. 
“ I fink I will make a Wed Sea,” he remarked 
suddenly. “ I will be Moses, an’ Hicodemus 
can be ve old Fhawaoh man. Yat stuff vat 
Cousin Yedowa had for Peggy’s dwess will 
make ve sea, if vere’s enough of it. Cousin 
Yedowa is asleepy now, vough, so maybe I’d 
better not asturb her. I know where she put 
it, so she needn’t wake up to get it for me.” 

Kalph, meanwhile, was battering at Nath- 
alie’s door and demanding admission. 

“ I’m sorry, Kalph ; but you can’t come in. 
I am busy.” 

“ So you said, an hour ago. This time, I 
must come in.” Kalph’s tone was imperative. 

“ Is anything the matter ? ” 

“ Let me in, and I’ll tell you.” 

Nathalie threw open the door. 

“ What is it ? ” she asked. 

But Ralph had halted on the threshold, ap- 
parently forgetful of his errand. 

“ That’s what I should say,” he replied. 


168 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


IS'athalie glanced at the d6bris heaped high 
on the bed, and at the empty drawers beside 
it, and she blushed guiltily. 

“I’m putting things in order,” she con- 
fessed. 

“ Oh, are you ? I never should have sus- 
pected it.” Ealph’s tone was cynical. 

“Well, I am,” replied JS'athalie tartly, for 
her temper was the worse for having lain awake, 
half the night before, in a futile endeavor to 
forget Mrs. Barrett’s rebuke. It had been 
impossible for her to ignore the tone of dis- 
approval, and it had hurt her keenly. For 
the first time in her motherless life, it had 
dawned upon her that disorderliness was 
something besides a matter for a joke. 
Granted that it was a subject for rebuke, 
she admitted to herself that she richly de- 
served just such a rebuke, and it swerved her 
not one whit from her loyalty to Mrs. Barrett. 
However, the first thing for her to do now, 
was to go to work to win back the approval 
she had lost. With this end in view, she had 
emptied the contents of all the drawers of the 
chiffonier into one huge pile, and, sitting Turk- 
wise on the bed beside them, she was busily 
engaged in sorting over the heap. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


169 


Ealph made a sudden pounce on the bed. 

“ There’s my best red tie ! ” he exclaimed. 
“ Where did that come from ? ” 

“ Oh, don’t upset that pile ! That is in 
order,” she remonstrated hurriedly. 

“ Maybe so. Anyhow, I want my tie, and I 
want to know where it came from.” 

“I borrowed it, one day when I couldn’t 
find mine. I knew you wouldn’t care.” 

“But I do care. I haven’t set eyes on it 
since before Christmas. You’ve no business to 
steal my things, Nathalie.” 

“ I didn’t steal it ; I only borrowed it.” 

“ It is stealing, too, when you don’t ask.” 

“ How could I ask ? You were at school.” 

But Ealph had returned to the pile. 

“ Well, I’ll be jiggered ! ” he said. “ If here 
isn’t my cardcase ! What’s this handkerchief 
marked H. M. A. ? ” 

“ That’s Harry’s. I used it to wrap up that 
centrepiece I made.” 

“ Time you returned it, strikes me. Whose 
are the giglamps ? ” 

“ The what ? ” 

“ Giglamps — blinkers — glasses — whatever 
you choose to call them. You haven’t come to 
spectacles ; have you ? ” 


170 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“ ISTo. Where are there any ? ” 

“Here. Let’s look. I’ll bet they are the 
ones Hal lost, last week. Yes, here is his 
name inside the case.” 

“ Where did you find them ? ” Nathalie 
asked blankly. 

“ Here, tied up in your gray gloves. They 
are gray; aren’t they, or do you call them 
drab ? Anyhow, there they are. Hathalie, 
this chiffonier of yours is as good as a savings 
bank. You know you’ve got the stuff, and 
you know where it is ; but you can’t put your 
fingers on it, to save your skin. I lost the 
blacking brush, yesterday. Would you mind 
hunting to see which heap it is in ? ” 

“Did you want me for something special, 
Ealph ? ” Nathalie interrupted. 

“Jerusalem! I should say I did. Cousin 
Eudora told me to call you. She’s sick.” 

“ She?” 

“Yes, it’s glorified cramps or something. 
Most likely she has eaten too many of her 
percussion caps, or whatever Fizzums calls 
them. She said she didn’t want any doctor, 
only you and some hot water and that souvenir 
spoon thing she always eats with.” 

Leaving her door wide open, Nathalie 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


171 


hurried away in search of boiling water and 
the Eddy spoon, the corner-stone of Eudora 
Evelina’s theology. As she came to the 
kitchen, she paused in the doorway, aghast, 
for the room bore every evidence of having 
been the scene of some terrible tragedy. 
Deep red stains dyed everything : the front of 
the sink, the table, the dish pan, the stove 
hearth. Scarlet pools were dabbled over the 
floor, and Mcodemus was tinged with scarlet 
from his ears to his toe-nails, while his back 
was apparently covered with a hairy blanket 
of deep cardinal red. But these stains were 
mere splashes, compared to the condition of 
Eizzums. His yellow hair was blotched with 
scarlet streaks and patches, his clothes dripped 
carmine, his face was the color of a ripe 
tomato and his hands were purple, as he bent 
over to paddle them in a Haviland soup tureen. 

At the sight, Nathalie sprang forward 
towards her little brother. Against the gen- 
eral redness, her face stood out, white and 
wan. 

Oh, Eizzums ! What is it ? Where’s the 
cut ? ” 

Eizzums turned to look over his shoulder. 

What cut ? ” he asked so placidly that she 


172 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


feared he was growing faint from loss of 
blood. 

“ What have you done to yourself, darling ? 
Tell, sister ! ” As she spoke, she caught him 
in her arms, thereby turning the front of her 
blue gown to a damp and sickly purple. 

Fizzums wriggled out of her nervous clasp. 

“It’s ve Wed Sea,” he explained a little 
petulantly ; “ an’ I’m Moses.” 

“The Ked Sea?” 

“ Yes, ve Wed Sea vat saved ve Child wen of 
Izwel. I made it out of ve stuff vat Cousin 
Yedowa had for Peggy’s pink dwess. Yere 
isn’t much of it ; but maybe ’twill do. It’s 
just goin’ to dwown Phawaoh, if you’ll wait a 
minute. Nicodemus is goin’ to be Phawaoh, 
an’ I fink vere’ll be enough to dwown him in ; 
don’t you?” 

The revulsion of feeling was too great for 
Nathalie. Dropping on the floor into the 
midst of the sea, she began to laugh hysteric- 
ally. 

“ Oh, Fizzums, how you frightened me ! I 
was sure you had killed yourself.” 

Fizzums shook his head gravely. 

“No; vat isn’t ve way it was. Moses got 
saved. He climbed out over ve dwy land, an’ 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


173 


didn’t wet his boots a bit. You be ve dwy 
land, J^athalie, an’ I’ll climb out over you. 
Yen, when JSTicodemus comes, you can woll 
him off into ve water an’ dwown him.” 

Too much exhausted to speak, or even to 
rise, Nathalie sat wiping the tears of mirth 
from her lashes. Then, all of a sudden, she 
sprang to her feet and gave a glance of utter 
consternation down at her sodden, red-stained 
gown. 

The apartment was a small one, and the 
architect had prided himself upon the compact 
arrangement of the rooms. At the back of the 
parlor, doors led straight across the dining- 
room to the kitchen ; on the opposite side of 
the parlor and across the hall, another door 
led into Nathalie’s room. All three doors 
were wide open, and a ruddy and hilarious 
Nicodemus was making merry with the con- 
tents of Nathalie’s bed. 

On the threshold between hall and parlor 
stood Peggy, just returned from a walk ; at 
Peggy’s side were Kingsley Barrett and a 
stranger woman, tall, handsome and sumptu- 
ously clothed. 

Escape was cut off, and Nathalie sought the 
safe shelter of the pantry. She was a fateful 


174 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


second too late, for Kingsley had caught sight 
of her. 

“ Oh, Nathalie ! ” he called jovially. “ Come 
here a minute. I want you to see Aunt Ted.” 

For the time being, Nathalie regretted the 
informal hospitality which had given Kingsley 
the freedom of the house. Without him, she 
might have contrived to escape the notice of 
Mrs. Farrington who was absorbed in trying 
to look unconscious of the depredations of the 
erstwhile Pharaoh. She made a swift gesture 
of warning towards Kingsley ; but, boy fash- 
ion, Kingsley either could not, or would not, 
heed. 

“Merciful Moses!” he observed, quite un- 
aware of the appositeness of his expletive. 
“Have you been opening a slaughter-house, 
Nathalie ? I advise you to look after that 
ruby spaniel of yours. He has begun swallow- 
ing a pink sash, and you’d better catch hold of 
it, while there’s enough left outside of him to 
hang on to.” 

“I was Moses, Mr. Wex Bawwett, an’ I 
maked a Wed Sea,” Fizzums explained, as he 
came strolling into the room, in no wise 
abashed by his gory appearance. “ Yen Nath- 
alie came in, an’ she sat down in ve middle 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


175 


of ve sea, an’ now she’s all wed, too, wed as a 
wobin wedbweast.” 

Then ITathalie appeared, laughing and 
blushing. 

“ I’m sorry, Mrs. Farrington,” she said, half 
in contrition, half in merriment. “We aren’t 
often in such a state as this ; but to-day has 
broken all past records. FTo ; don’t shake 
hands with me. You’ll ruin your gloves, if 
you do.” 

Mindful of the condition of her back 
breadths, she looked about for the chair which 
would be least damaged by her sitting in it. 
Mrs. Farrington interpreted the glance. 

“ Don’t sit down,” she said hastily. “ It 
won’t hurt you to stand, and Eex and I 
mustn’t stop but a minute, anyway. Mrs. 
Barrett sent us up to see if you and your 
brother would come to dinner, to-morrow.” 

“ I think so,” ITathalie was beginning. “ It 
is my afternoon in Seward Park ; but I shall 
be home in time. Unless Harry telephones 
you that he has an engagement, we will ” 

“ Nathalie 1 Nathalie Arterburn ! Where 
in the land is that spoon ? ” 

Down the narrow hallway came the pad, 
pad of stockinged feet, and Eudora Evelina, 


1Y6 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


an appalling vision of dark-brown dressing 
sack and light-brown curl-papers, swept into 
view. There followed a muflied exclamation 
of “ Oh, my soul ! ” and the apparition vanished 
with more swiftness than it had come. 

For a long moment, there was silence, and 
Nathalie tried to decide whether to laugh or 
to run away. For weeks, she had been looking 
forward to this meeting with Mrs. Farrington 
both because Mrs. Farrington was Mrs. Bar- 
rett’s sister, and because she was a famous 
novelist. Girl-like, she had planned out all 
the details of the meeting, and had made them 
as picturesque as her mind could fashion them. 
After this, the reality was doubly disconcert- 
ing. 

Then, regardless of her gloves, Mrs. Far- 
rington turned and took Nathalie’s hands into 
her own. 

“ Nathalie child, don’t you mind it one bit,” 
she said, with a merry frankness that won the 
girl’s instant liking. ‘‘I’ve been through it all, 
myself, and I know just how it feels.” 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


m 


CHAPTER FOURTEEH 

D own in Seward Park, that winter, 
Nathalie had been finding an outlet 
for her superfluous energies, an answer to her 
questions regarding the East Side. She never 
quite recovered from the shock of her first 
sight of the place. In company with Dr. 
Holden and Mrs. Ainslee, one day in early 
November, she had threaded her way through 
Hester Street. The push-carts heaped with 
fruit and vegetables and gloomy -hued calicoes, 
the soup cauldron bubbling over the curb- 
stone fire, the women squatting in the door- 
ways or wrangling among the carts, the 
children, half-clad, half-fed, huddling and 
pushing and squabbling in the gutters: all 
these had left a fadeless print upon her mind. 
It was so unlike the ISTew York she had 
learned to know, so unlike the free, cleanly 
life of even the poorest child in Chesterton. 

At Seward Park, she halted in amazement. 
Cold and dreary as was the day, the place 


178 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


swarmed with children, bareheaded, bare- 
legged. The swings were besieged. Under 
the open tent, the kindergarten ring was full, 
and a triple ring surrounded it, eager for a 
chance to join in the plays. In the athletic 
field beyond, the trapeze was dotted Avith 
half-grown boys, and the running track was 
the centre of an excited throng. Everywhere 
were rags, uncleanness and a hearty welcome 
for Dr. Holden who was known to be not only 
an active worker in the Kecreation League, 
but also no mean antagonist in the sports at 
which he often took a turn, while Mrs. 
Ainslee joined the kindergarten ring under the 
canvas. 

“What’s the use?” she had answered 
Nathalie. “Nothing to speak -^f. It only 
keeps the people off the streets and gives them 
a chance to harden their muscles and to think 
of healthy things. I suppose it keeps a few 
children from being killed somewhere else; 
and the boys who come here are so interested 
in the games that they forget to steal out of 
the push-carts and get themselves arrested. 
Healthy play and clean air are as good for the 
tenement youngsters as for us. Keep your 
eyes open while we are going home through 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


179 


Hester Street, Nathalie, and you’ll see the 
other side of it.” 

“ Do you come often ? ” Nathalie asked. 
“ They seem to know you.” 

“ Once a week.” 

Nathalie glanced at the trim figure by her 
side. 

“Don’t — don’t you get very dirty?” she 
inquired. 

Mrs. Ainslee’s laugh was good to hear. 

“ No ; and even if I did, it would wash off. 
The children’s hands are smutty ; but it isn’t 
catching, and Yes, Hyman, in a min- 

ute ! — Come down with me for a few 
weeks, Nathalie, and you will see what I 
mean.” 

And Nathalie did see. Young as she was, 
she proved herself an efficient worker among 
the children ; and the fact that, out of the 
swarming thousands of them, Sollie and Noah 
and tiny Abie with the twisted legs watched 
for her coming and hung about her with 
uncouth caresses, taught her a new lesson of 
gentleness and of tolerance for habits remote 
from her own. At first, she had felt interest 
and curiosity, mingled with some little fear; 
but, as the time passed on, she was astonished 


180 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


to find herself growing genuinely fond of the 
ragged, unkempt youngsters whom at first 
sight she had regarded merely as subjects for 
impersonal charity. 

It was not altogether charity, either. In 
her childhood, Nathalie had never cared for 
dolls, yet all her healthy girlhood responded 
to this vast human doll show before her, and 
her high, clear voice rang out contentedly in 
the chorus, 

“ Lazy Betsey, will you get up? 

Will you get up ? Will you get up ? 

Lazy Betsey, will you get up ? 

Will you get up, to-day? ” 

Laughing and rosy with the sting of the 
clean, cold January air which not even the 
noisomeness of Hester Street could sully, she 
halted in the middle of the ring to see whom 
she should choose. Across the floor, hand- 
some, dark-eyed Hyman Speevock was winking 
and beckoning to her, and she half started 
towards him. Then her glance fell upon a 
newcomer to the ring, a shapeless little bunch 
of humanity with a wan, blue, elderly face 
and a thatch of tea-colored hair. The child 
was eyeing her with an apathetic curiosity in 
which there was no expectation of receiving 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 181 


any personal attention. Nathalie hesitated, 
cast a longing glance at Hyman, then beck- 
oned to the tiny stranger. 

“ He can’t walk none,” his sister explained 
shrilly. “ I had ter lug him here ; but he likes 
ter per tend he kin play, like de udder kids.” 

Under his grime, the child flushed hotly, 
and two appealing eyes peered up at Nathalie. 
The next minute, the girl had picked up the 
little bundle of wretchedness, cuddled him 
against her shoulder and carried him into the 
middle of the ring. 

“But he wanted to do just as the others 
did,” she said tempestuously to Mrs. Ainslee, 
on their way home. “ His eyes showed it. It 
must be horrid to have to stand on the edge 
of things and look on. I like to be in the 
middle, even if it is nothing but the Seward 
Park kindergarten ring, and I always feel 
sorry for the forlorn little ones who don’t get 
taken inside the fun. They try to look as if 
they didn’t care ; but you can be sure they do. 
Now I must hurry home. Harry and I are to 
be at Mrs. Barrett’s, to-night, you know.” 

To her surprise, she found Harry stretched 
out at full length on the couch in the dining- 


room. 


182 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


‘‘ What is the matter ? Are you ill ? ” she 
demanded breathlessly. 

“JS'o; only somewhat tired and very lazy. 
Is it time I was dressing ? ” 

“ Not yet. Are you sure you are all right ? ” 
Her tone was anxious. Harry’s face was 
thinner than when he had come home from 
Germany, and under his dark blue eyes she 
saw the darker blue lines. 

“Fit as a fiddle,” he answered. “I was 
only improving the shining hour with a little 
nap. You know we alwaj^s stay till late at 
the Barretts’, and I thought I would get in 
my beauty sleep beforehand.” 

Nathalie tossed her hat and coat into a 
chair, and then stood looking down at her 
brother. He returned her gaze with a half- 
mocking smile. 

“Well, chum?” 

“ What makes you go, Harry ? ” 

“ Because I want to.” 

“ But do you feel able ? ” 

“ Able ! I’m all right. I was only a little 
more tired than usual. Eex had one of his 
cantankerous days, the first in a long time ; 
and, up at the university, I had a talk with 
that fellow Sinclair. I warned him, a week 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


183 


ago. To-day, he told me that, if I conditioned 
him, he would appeal to the Dean. It’s a case 
of shirking and of injured innocence ; but it is 
exasperating.” 

Nathalie pushed him along, and dropped 
down on the couch at his side. 

“ Hal,” she said slowly, as she made havoc 
with the parting of his hair ; “ you are work- 
ing too hard.” 

“What makes you think so? Go easy, 
Nathalie ! Eemember that it’s my hair.” 

“No matter. You are my brother. If I 
own you, I own your hair also. I don’t think 
so ; I know so.” 

“ I thought it was mine,” he remonstrated ; 
“ but, if you insist, I suppose I shall have to 
give in.” 

She frowned intently. 

“I don’t mean the hair, Hal; I mean the 
work. You are doing too much.” 

“Well?” 

“ Well, you mustn’t.” 

There came a swift flash in the dark blue 
eyes. 

“ How can I help it, chum ? We must live.” 

“ Harry ! Is it as bad as that ? ” she cried, 
in alarm. 


184 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


But already he repented of his momentary 
yielding to the mood of a black half-hour. 

“ Not that exactly ; still, it takes money to 
keep us going.” 

“ I know that, Hal ; but can’t we keep 
going with less ? ” 

He shook his head. 

“ Cousin Eudora has reduced things to about 
their lowest terms, Nathalie. She is a splendid 
manager. But there are some things we must 
have. Your school is one of them.” 

“ I won’t go,” she said flatly. 

“You must. I can’t have my chum only 
half educated ; there would be no comfort in 
having her for a chum.” 

“ Then I can study alone.” 

“ You can’t, and I can’t afford the time to 
see to your lessons. No, Nathalie, you must 
keep on as you are doing.” 

“ Then I am going to help you earn some of 
the money,” she said obstinately. 

He laughed. 

“ I don’t see how you can tutor Eex ; and I 
have a theory that the powers on the Heights 
may not consent to give you my classes.” 

She pondered for a moment, while his eyes 
rested upon her proudly. Even if she were 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


185 


useless and a source of expense, it was good to 
have this dauntless, spirited girl for a sister. 

“ But, Harry, you can’t keep on working so 
hard,” she urged. “ You are growing thin, 
and you haven’t any appetite. You must eat 
more. Just think how homely you’ll grow, if 
you don’t.” She laughed; but there was an 
odd break in her voice. Then she went on, 
“You are working on Kex, three hours a day, 
and that is enough for one man. Then you 
have your classes, and this horrid writing you 
are doing — Harry, why can’t I do the writ- 
ing?” 

“ Because somebody would have to read it,” 
he said, laughing. Already he felt the better 
for his sister’s coming. Her ceaseless touch 
on his hair was soothing to his tired-out brain, 
her voice was low and pleasant to his ears, the 
whole poise of her body, as it nestled against 
him, was suggestive of her love and her will- 
ingness to help, suggestive, in fact, of their 
chumship. 

“ It’s mean to twit on facts,” she retorted. 
“ My writing is pretty, even if it isn’t plain. 
Besides, with a little practice, I could write as 
straight and square a hand as a judge of the 
supreme court.” 


186 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“ YouVe enough else to do.” 

“ What?” 

“Your slumming, for instance,” he sug- 
gested teasingly. 

“ Charity begins at home. Besides, I like to 
keep busy. People who are good for any- 
thing always are busy; the more they do, 
the more they can do.” 

He stretched out his hand and took hold of 
her heavy braid of yellow hair. 

“You are beginning to live up to that idea, 
chum. It is only about four months since you 
were bewailing your uselessness. How I 
should find it hard to get on without you.” 

“ Truly, Harry ? ” 

“ Truly, chum.” 

To his surprise, her head went down on his 
shoulder for a minute. Then she sat up ab- 
ruptly. 

“ Then it is all settled about the writing. 
Come, lazy boy, it is time you were prink- 
ing.” 

The blue lines under his eyes were still in 
evidence ; but there was no trace of languor 
in Harry Arterburn’s manner, while he was 
being introduced to Mrs. Farrington and 
listening to her account of the making of the 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


18 t 


Eed Sea. Nathalie, meanwhile, had been ap- 
propriated by Kingsley. 

“ It’s an age and a quarter since I have seen 
you,” he said rebukingly. 

“A day and a quarter, you mean. You 
were at our house, yesterday.” 

“ Yes, but I didn’t see you ; you were in- 
visible under your hectic flush.” 

“ What did your aunt say ? ” 

“That you stood it like a trump. How 
many yards of ribbon did Nicodemus eat 
up ? ” 

“ I haven’t had time to count ; I have been 
too busy, washing up the prints of his feet. 

Kex Barrett, if ever I rescue another dog ” 

She paused expressively. 

“ It won’t be when I’m around. I was laid 
up for a week, as the result of your humane 
act. Next time, let the beast go, and look out 
for the man at your side.” 

“ It was bad of me,” she admitted ; “ but I 
didn’t suppose you would come to grief so 
easily. Eex,” she added abruptly; “I am 
worried, awfully worried, about Harry.” 

“What’s the matter with Mr. Arterburn? 
He looks jolly as a grig.” 

“ Yes, now ; but he isn’t right. He is thin, 


188 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


and he gets tired too easily. The fact is, he 
works too hard.^’ 

“ Why doesn’t he cut some of it, then ? I’d 
be willing to let him off, four or five mornings 
a week, for my share,” Kingsley returned 
composedly. 

“ You’d much better try to make it easier 
for him, when he does come,” Nathalie an- 
swered a little more sharply than she realized. 

Kingsley stiffened perceptibly. 

‘‘ What do you mean ? ” he demanded. 

Nathalie hesitated. In her usual headlong 
fashion, she had taken the bull by the horns, 
before stopping to consider how she was going 
to let go again without danger to herself. 

‘‘I — I ” she stammered. 

‘‘ What do you mean ? ” Kingsley repeated 
rather haughtily. 

Nathalie gave a terrified glance over her 
shoulder. No help was near; yet it was 
rather a relief that neither was any one near 
enough to have heard her blunder. For an 
instant, her eyes rested upon Harry’s face. 
The blue shadows, and the scarlet spots in his 
cheeks gave her courage ; she faced Kingsley 
again. 

“ I’ve gone so far, there’s no use in my beat- 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


189 


ing about the bush,” she said, with a nervous 
laugh. “ You know, yourself, that you are a 
trial to your friends. You tease me till I am 
half wild ; but I don’t care. I do care, though, 
when you tease Harry, for he minds it more 
than I do. He has a conscience, and it gets 
in his way. He knows he is hired to teach 
you things, and he does his best. When you 
get silly and cranky, and don’t try to learn, it 
makes him frantic.” 

“ If he feels that way about it, why doesn’t 
he chuck the whole business ? ” Kingsley in- 
quired dispassionately. 

Hathalie turned as red as the gown she 
wore. 

“Because he can’t afford it,” she said 
defiantly. 

Afford was a word not included in Kings- 
ley’s vocabulary. He looked up question- 
ingly. 

“ How do you mean ? ” 

“I mean that he needs the money, must 
have it, to pay our bills. And, what is more, 
I mean that you are making him worry until 
he is about half ill.” 

“I But I like Arterburn,” Kingsley 

said defensively. 


190 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“ So you said, once before ; but you take 
queer ways of showing it.” Suddenly she 
paused and held out her hand with a girlish, 
winning frankness. “ I don’t like to scold and 
be horrid, Kex, and I know I’ve been saying 
things I’ve no right to say; but, you see, 
Harry is all there is of my world. I know he 
likes you and wants to get on with you, and I 
know you tease the life half out of him. 
What’s the use of it ? If he really and truly 
must work, and you can do more than any- 
body else to make his work easy, why aren’t 
you willing to do it ? ” 

Flushed with the earnestness of her own ap- 
peal, her face framed in the fluffy halo of her 
bright hair, she made a goodly picture to look 
upon. From across the room, Mrs. Farrington 
saw it and nodded approvingly at her husband 
while, for a minute, the thoughts of them both 
went backward to the girlhood of Theodora 
McAlister. At Nathalie’s side, however, 
Kingsley was blind to the picture she made. 
He only saw the tired face of his tutor, as it 
had looked, that morning, a tired face with 
downcast eyes and lips which were not quite 
steady ; and the face haunted him. 

The silence lasted for a perceptible time. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


191 


Then Kingsley faced the girl without flinch- 
ing. 

“ IVe been a cad,” he said gruffly ; “ but, on 
my honor. Til stop it right now.” 

And he kept his word. 


192 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


CHAPTEE FIFTEEIST 

“ A ^ j Nathalie, you 

/A. needn’t say ve Amen; I’m enginee- 
wing vis — ask for Jesus’ sake. Amen ! Nath- 
alie ? ” 

“Well, dear ? ” 

“Is it a twuly Jesus, or just a make-believe 
one?” 

“ A truly one. Why, Fizzums ? ” 

“ Yen I wants to wite to him.” 

“ What for ? ” 

“To send him a wound O, a kissing O. 
Would Jesus be mad, Nathalie ? ” 

Nathalie’s arm tightened around her little 
brother. At such instants, Fizzums seemed to 
her very near the Kingdom. Unhappily, such 
instants were short-lived. 

“Poor little Jesus ! ” he murmured sleepily. 
“ Had to go back up to heaven, an’ couldn’t 
have any more fun. Nathalie ! ” 

“Yes, Fizzums.” 

“ Nathalie, if I should die I don’t fink 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


193 


Pm going to die, ’cause I ain’t sick any ; but 
ven I might, you know — but, if I should die, I 
want you to fall wight down dead, too. Yen 
we could be bewwied in one gwave. ’Twould 
be so snoozy, Nathalie.” 

“I wouldn’t think about dying, Fizzums,” 
Nathalie remonstrated. 

“But I likes to,” Fizzums responded un- 
expectedly. “ It’s going to be awful funny to 
be a nangel an’ have f ewers t wail in’ wound 
your legs an’ stickin’ up atween your toes. I 
hope mine will be gween, Nathalie, b wight 
blue an’ gween, just like ve paw wot in ve 
corner dwunky store.” 

But Nathalie felt that it would be unwise to 
prolong the conversation and, with a hasty 
good-night, she left Fizzums to his dreams. 

Out in the dining-room, Peggy and Kalph 
were buzzing over their lessons like a pair of 
indignant bees. Nathalie paused long enough 
to correct Peggy’s impression that Madagascar 
was situated in Behring Sea, and to advise 
Kalph to spell medicine with two I’s. Then she 
went to join Harry in front of the parlor fire. 

“How does this look?” she demanded, 
thrusting some loose sheets of paper into his 
hands. 


194 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


‘‘Good! Better than I can do,” he said 
heartily. 

Pleased at his tone of enthusiasm, she 
dropped down on the rug at his feet, while 
JSTicodemus, with a clumsiness which sug- 
gested leaden weights attached to his paws, 
crossed the room and clambered into her 
lap. 

“ Then you’ll let me begin, Monday night ? ” 

“ Keally, it isn’t necessary, E'athalie.” 

“ Maybe not ; but I want to do it, just the 
same. We’ll work together, and it will be 
ever so cozy, Harry. I probably sha’n’t be as 
quick as you are ; but it will save you a little 
time. How is Kex ? ” 

“ So angelic that I am afraid he isn’t well. 
I can’t imagine what has come over the fel- 
low, these last weeks. He has done more 
work, real, solid work, than in all the rest of 
the time I have had him.” 

ITathalie laughed contentedly to herself. 

“Kex isn’t a bad fellow, Harry. He has his 
good points like the rest of us.” 

“He wouldn’t be his own mother’s own 
son, if he hadn’t. I hope he will amount to 
something, Nathalie, and I rather think he 
will.” 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


195 


“Has Mrs. Farrington gone?” Nathalie 
asked idly, as she parted the sparse hair on 
Nicodemus’s back. 

“ To Mrs. Ainslee. She stays there for 
about a week longer, I think. By the way, 
Nathalie, Mac Holden was telling me some- 
thing about an accident in the playground. 
What was it ? ” 

“I don’t know. I haven’t heard of any. 
Was it in the papers?” She looked up anx- 
iously. 

“I didn’t see it. He said you would 
know the child. It was a little, deformed 
fellow who was knocked out of one of the 
swings.” 

“ Mikie Kranzner ? ” 

“Yes, some such pretty name. He was 
Mike, I know. Was he a friend of yours ? ” 

She ignored the teasing question. 

“ Was he killed ? ” she asked sharply, for in 
the past two or three weeks, she had grown 
strangely fond of the shapeless little bunch of 
humanity who answered to the name of 
Mikie. 

“No ; but a good deal hurt, Mac said. They 
supposed he was dead, when they picked him 
up. Mac happened to be down there, and you 


196 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


know he is always loaded with an emergency 
outfit. When they took the child home, they 
thought perhaps he might pull through.” 

Nathalie stared intently into the fire for a 
few minutes. 

“ Poor little Mikie ! ” she said at last. “ I’m 
not sure I want him to pull through. His 
mother dropped him out of the window, when 
he was a baby; and there isn’t enough life 
left in him to be worth living. He does have 
a very good time with what there is of him- 
self, though.” 

“ And I suppose he is only one case out of 
hundreds, here in the city.” Harry’s tone 
was thoughtful. “ It’s no use to worry about 
it, Nathalie. If you’ve helped on one young- 
ster a little, it’s better than nothing.” 

‘‘I think I’ll go down there, to-morrow,” 
she said, heedless of his last words. “ Could 
you go with me, Harry; or are you too 
tired ? ” 

“ I’ll go. Perhaps Mac will be going down, 
too.” 

However, on the morrow, Nicodemus took 
matters into his own paws, and effectually 
drove from the mind of his young mistress all 
thought of errands of mercy. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


197 


Kingsley came over early, that Sunday 
morning. 

“ Hullo ! ” he remarked genially, as he came 
swinging into the room. “ Anybody here go- 
ing to church ? If so, I’m your man for an 
escort. The pater and mater have struck, and 
I’m afraid to go alone.” 

“But we weren’t going,” Nathalie de- 
murred. 

“ Speak for yourself, Nathalie,” Peggy ob- 
served pertly. “ I am going, and so is Kalph.” 

“Yes; but Kex doesn’t want to go with a 
pair of children,” Nathalie replied mercilessly. 

“But why aren’t you going, Nathalie? 
They need you to fill up the church. What 
will Mr. Holmes do without you ? ” 

Fizzums looked up from his picture book. 

“I’m vewy sowwy for poor Mr. Holmes,” 
he said gravely ; “ but vere’s no use in my go- 
ing. I couldn’t fill up ve church.” 

“No; but Nathalie could. She fills all 
space, when she gets started,” Kingsley said, 
laughing. “ Come along, Nathalie.” 

“ But I was going down to see Mikie.” 

“ Bother Mikie ! Come and take Rexie to 
church.” 


“ But he’s almost dead.” 


198 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“ That’s where I score ; I’m not. A living 
Rex is better than a dead Mike. Go and get 
on your hat, and come along.” 

Harry declined to join them, on the plea of 
some unwritten letters, and, at the last min- 
ute, it transpired that Peggy’s feelings were 
injured, and that she had decided to remain at 
home. Some moments were lost in discussing 
the matter, and the bells had stopped ringing, 
before Kingsley, Nathalie and Ralph were 
fairly in the street. 

“ Let’s hurry,” Nathalie urged. “ I do hate 
to be late to things.” 

“ Don’t kill me again,” Kingsley reminded 
her. “ You nearly did for me once, you 
know ; and I don’t want to follow Mikie’s ex- 
ample. There are a few worse things in the 
world than being late to church.” 

And so the event proved. 

In their hurry to be off, no one remembered 
that Eudora Evelina had bidden Nicodemus 
to go to play by himself in the back yard, and 
had provided him with an old stockiug of 
Ralph’s, by way of toy. No one knew that the 
alley gate was open. No one saw the dog of 
many breeds creep stealthily along the street 
in the wake of his mistress. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


199 


The processional was ended, and the Yenite^ 
and the congregation were settling themselves 
to listen to the reading of the First Lesson, 
when there came a patter of feet up the 
middle aisle. The patter was followed by an 
inquiring Woof ? ” in a deep contralto voice ; 
and every head turned, with the precision of 
clockwork. 

FTathalie and the boys had been so late in 
reaching the church that the Arterburn pew 
had been filled. Accordingly, they had been 
ushered to a place near the head of the middle 
aisle where they easily could divide public 
attention with the rector himself. With this 
thought in her mind, and heedful of her past 
training in decorum, l^athalie had forborne to 
look over her shoulder at the first sensation. 
A second, and louder, and still more inquisitive 
“Woof?” proved to be too much for her 
curiosity, however, and she turned around 
hastily to see Mcodemus, as unkempt and 
unwashed as Mikie himself, come strolling up 
the aisle towards her, with a long black stock- 
ing trailing negligently from his smiling jaws. 

The sight was so appalling that she abruptly 
punched Ealph with her elbow, to call his 
attention and demand his sympathy. Unfor- 


200 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


tunatelj, Ealph was lost in a vision of foot- 
ball, and was quite oblivious of the sacred 
place in which he found himself. 

“Huh ? ” he observed interrogatively. 

“ Sh ! Keep still ! It’s Hicodemus ! ” 
Nathalie whispered distractedly. “ What can 
we do with him ? ” 

But Kicodemus promptly settled that 
question by doing with himself. With the 
torn stocking still draggling after him, he 
mounted the chancel steps with the pompous 
dignity of a whole bridal party, and went to 
sniff at the rector’s heels. Apparently he was 
pleased with the result of his scrutiny, for he 
laid the stocking like a tithe at the rector’s 
feet, backed off for half a dozen paces and sat 
himself down to survey the scene at his 
leisure. For one moment, he broke his 
dignity by giving a vigorous sneeze ; then he 
rallied and became once more a picture of 
reverential attention, with the tattered, war- 
worn ear next the rector pointed upright 
towards the reading-desk, while the other 
lopped dejectedly over his less accurate eye. 

There was every indication that he would 
have listened, unmoved, to the reading of the 
entire book of Job ; but unhappily Kicodemus 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 201 


had no ear for music, and the high F which 
opened the Te Deum jarred upon his nerves. 
At the first jubilant note of the choristers, he 
gave a terrified yelp, scurried down the steps 
again, and vanished in the direction of the 
street. 

During the Te Deum^ IS’athalie sat with 
bowed head which, however, was no indi- 
cation of a prayerful spirit. She was thankful 
that the anthem was a long and intricate one, 
for it gave her time to regain her self-control. 
She could feel Kingsley gently shaking by her 
side, and she devoutl}^ wished that some over- 
zealous warden would put him out of the 
church. Then the Second Lesson came, and 
the Jubilate^ and at last she dared look up 
once more and take heed of what was passing 
around her. 

In the hush of the collects that followed, 
once more she became conscious of the muffled 
patter of shaggy paws on a velvet carpet. 
Desperately she stopped her ears and tried to 
fix her mind upon the service. She knew that 
Kingsley was eyeing her stealthily ; and her 
desire for his removal grew apace. The patter 
came near and nearer, then halted. From 
between her clasped fingers, Nathalie peered 


202 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


out into the aisle. The taste of Nicodemus 
was plainly for the more quiet forms of 
worship ; and again he had come to sit in rapt 
attention to the service. This time, however, 
he had not ventured within range of the 
choristers ; but prudently had taken his seat 
in the aisle just opposite the pew where his 
mistress had been placed. 

“ Oh, get him ; can’t you ? ” she begged 
Kingsley, in an agonized whisper. 

Kingsley nodded. The aisle was a broad 
one, and he braced himself firmly on his knees 
for the effort. Then an arm swept out in the 
circular gesture of one catching flies, and a 
gray -gloved hand grasped the nearer hind leg 
of Mcodemus. 

“ Wow-ow !” 

The voice was soprano, this time, and it 
expressed pained surprise. Then Mcodemus 
looked rebukingly over his shoulder, pulled his 
leg away from the detaining hand and hitched 
himself a few inches nearer the other side of 
the aisle. 

A thin gurgle of laughter escaped from 
Kalph’s lips ; but Nathalie suppressed him, 
and together she and Kingsley waited anx- 
iously for the final catastrophe which they 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


203 


felt sure would come upon them in one form 
or another at the paws of the merciless Mco- 
demus. It did come, and sooner than they 
expected. 

Saint Barnabas the Apostle was justly proud 
of its choir, and it had been in a spirit of 
haughty ostentation that this choir had an- 
nounced its intention of singing an ancient 
Latin hymn lately set to music by a famous 
composer. It was something of a musical 
feat, since the score was difficult and unac- 
companied by the organ, only the full, rich 
choir of human voices rising to the Gothic 
arches of the venerable church. 

There was an expectant hush over the great 
congregation ; there was a single chord from 
the organ. Then, clear and sonorous and jubi- 
lant, the chorus rang out in the good old words 
of the hymn of Thomas a Kempis, — 

Adstant angelorum chori 
Laudes cantant ” 

A wail mingled with the singing, low and 
sorrowful at first, then loud, piercing, gusty, 
rising even above the shrill voices of the 
sopranos. In the corners of the church, peo- 
ple were turning to cast angry glances at the 
organist ; but no such sound ever came from 


204 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


an organ created bj mortal hands. It was 
like the howling of an angry Banshee. 

Mcodemus had provided an accompani- 
ment. 

Sitting on his haunches at the head of the 
aisle, his nose pointed upward to the Gothic 
arches, his frayed ears sagging backwards and 
his eyes goggling with excitement, he had 
joined in the chorus with a lusty determina- 
tion to drown it out, or to die in the attempt. 
Full-throated and brazen-lunged, he was fast 
accomplishing his baleful ends. 

There was a moment of indecision. Then 
Kingsley rose to his feet. His teeth were fast 
shut, his face was damp ; but his courage held 
good to the end of his task. Seizing Kicodemus 
in the very midst of a ten-bar B in Alt^ he 
took him in his arms and started down the 
aisle in the face of the hilarious congregation. 
But Kicodemus refused to be diverted from 
his purpose. Half-freeing himself by divers 
kicks and snappings, he wriggled about in 
Kingsley’s arms until, over the boy’s shoulder, 
he again faced the chancel. Then once more 
he took up his interrupted theme at the pre- 
cise beat where he had dropped it. 

And so, persevering to the last, Kicodemus 


NATHALIE'S GHmi 


205 


was borne away, leaving a trail of howls be- 
hind him, just as the choir dropped into the 
fugue, — 

“ Concors vox est omnium," 

and the congregation bowed its head and 
wiped the tears from its eyes. 


206 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


CHAPTEE SIXTEEN 

D E. HOLDEN frowned over his prescrip- 
tion pad. 

“ I can’t put a name to it, Hal ; but some- 
thing is wrong somewhere.” 

“ I’m not after a name. What I want is 
the medicine to get rid of the thing itself.” 

“ There is some slight connection between 
the two,” Dr. Holden said dryly. 

“Eudora Evelina calls it spring fever,” 
Harry suggested. 

“ Eudora Evelina is a — well, a Christian 
Scientist. If she had pinned her faith to herb 
teas, she would have been a first-rate nurse of 
a certain sort. How many of these dizzy turns 
did you say you have had ? ” 

‘‘ Three ; but the first one didn’t amount to 
much.” 

“ And you’re not sleeping ? ” 

‘‘ Not more than an hour in a night.” 

“ You know the tortures of the condemned, 
then. How is your temper ? ” 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


207 


“ Detestable.’^ 

The/ both laughed. Then Dr. Holden an- 
swered, — 

“I don’t doubt it. As I have said before, 
Hal, you are killing yourself with overwork, 
and I honestly think it is for a mistaken notion 
of duty. What better off are these children, 
here in the city ? ” 

“My father wished it,” Harry replied 
briefly. 

“ Perhaps he did in theory ; but he neglected 
to take into account the practical workings out 
of the case. It costs you three times as much 
to keep them here, and what do you gain ? ” 

Harry looked up at him, with a steady, de- 
termined gleam in his blue eyes. 

“Isn’t it something for us to hold to- 
gether ? ” 

“Ho; not under the circumstances. Coun- 
try life and country ozone are better for those 
children than even your moral training and 
example. Moreover, they will need you more, 
flve or six years from now, than they do, to- 
day ; and, at the present rate of progress, you 
will be dead by that time. Still moreover, 
you are spoiling your own future. Without 
this load on your shoulders, you would have a 


208 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


chance to grow on your own account. There’s 
the making of a professor in you and, in time, 
the chance of a permanent reputation. In- 
stead ” 

‘‘If you have finished, I think I will ^go. 
Your time ought to be too valuable for you to 
waste so much of it on one patient.” 

Dr. Holden rose and put his hand on his 
friend’s shoulder. Seen side by side like this, 
there was a curious contrast between the two 
men. Exactly equal in age, similar in birth, 
breeding and education, they yet stood far 
apart, the one marked with the strength of 
conscious success, the other bowed in the 
weakness of dreaded failure, a failure in no 
wise caused by his own failing. But because 
McAlister Holden had walked to manhood by 
easy paths, he was none the less a man. 
Strong and gentle, stern and loving, he was a 
worthy grandson of the Dr. McAlister whose 
name he was proud to bear. How, as he bent 
over Harry Arterburn, his blue eyes were very 
tender and pitiful. 

“ I’m not altogether a brute, Hal, and I’m 
not talking at random. I saw Clark, yester- 
day, and he told me about your collapsing in 
the class, the other day. You don’t want too 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


209 


many such attacks. Something has got to be 
done about it. What shall it be ? ” 

“ Do you think they are serious ? ” Harry 
asked steadily. 

“ Dangerous, no ; serious, yes. It is a warn- 
ing that you must slow up a little.” 

“ How can I slow up, Mac ? It is out of the 
question.” 

Dr. Holden forgave the petulance of the 
tone. Even in the course of his short profes- 
sional life, he had seen desperate men before, 
and he knew how to account for their moods. 

“ Give Eex a vacation, pack off the young- 
sters to Yermont with the excellent Miss 
Shaw, and take a coast voyage in the Easter 
holidays.” 

“ What about Hathalie ? ” 

“ I counted her as one of the youngsters.” 

Harry looked up at his friend as if a new 
idea had suddenly dawned upon him and he 
found it unpleasing. 

« Why, Mac, I really don’t see how I could 
get on without Hathalie,” he said blankly. 

“ She’s a good sort,” Dr. Holden said cheer- 
ily; “and I don’t wonder you enjoy her. 
Still, you oughtn’t to have a care, beyond your 
professional work.” 


210 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


Harry rose, shrugging his shoulders. 

“ Got to,” he said laconically. “ The worst 
of it is that I can’t afford even to die in har- 
ness. I am bound to keep alive, somehow or 
other ; so you may as well find out a way to 
patch me up and keep me in working condi- 
tion.” He turned to the door ; then he paused 
irresolutely. “You’re a good fellow, Mac; 
and you won’t say too much about this talk of 
ours ; will you ? I don’t want it to get about 
that I’m not well ; it might affect my chances, 
you know.” 

And Mac understood, and kept his secret. 

Down in Hester Street, that afternoon, the 
east wind blew up from the river, raw and 
penetrating. It whistled around the corners 
and wheezed through the alleys; but along 
the middle of the street, it found a straight 
path where it could bluster and rage to its 
heart’s content. March was going out like a 
whole family of angry lions, and, even in her 
fur jacket, Mrs. Ainslee shivered and drew 
back a little, as she faced the blast. 

It had snowed in the night. With the com- 
ing of the dawn, the snow had turned to rain, 
and the pavements and roadway of Hester 
Street were covered with two inches of slush 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


211 


whose dreary gray was dappled with the 
soaked and sodden refuse that lay scattered 
everywhere. It was Friday, market day, and 
the push-carts stood in two unbroken lines, 
each cart the centre of a chattering, gesticu- 
lating group of bareheaded, blowsy women 
and silk-hatted, frock-coated, long-bearded 
men. Along the sloppy sidewalks, the chil- 
dren were splashing and sliding hither and 
thither, their tracks marked by round black 
holes or straight black canals in the midst of 
the gray slime. All of the children were 
bareheaded, a few wore uncouth, shapeless 
wraps ; but many of them were in the same 
calico gowns they had worn in August, and 
their shoes leaked water and mud at every 
seam. Heedless of the wind that twisted their 
lank hair about their necks, they were shout- 
ing and laughing in their sport, now breaking 
off long enough to engage in a fierce hand-to- 
hand battle, now making a swift raid upon 
some unguarded push-cart, then resuming their 
good-tempered play as abruptly as they had 
left it off. 

“ Why don’t they all die ? ” Nathalie said, 
as they passed group after group, pausing now 
and then to reply to a word of recognition. 


212 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


Mrs. Ainslee pulled her collar more closely 
around her ears. 

“ It is one of the mysteries of life, Nathalie. 
Peggy and Kalph wouldn’t endure a day of it ; 
these children grow up in this fashion. And 
there is so little we can do for them. Just 
the bare living can’t be very satisfactory ; and 
all our playground work isn’t a drop in the 
bucket.” 

“ It helps, though,” Nathalie said sturdily. 
“ Even if we only get at one child in an hun- 
dred, it is worth the doing. For my part, I 
shall always be glad of what I have done, be- 
cause of the fun Mikie has had out of it.” 

“ Poor little Mikie ! ” 

Nathalie turned on her with flashing 
eyes. 

“ Not poor a bit ! He was too plucky for 
that. I am not sure I am sorry he is going to 
die. He never could have held his own, down 
in this place, and he would better be out of it 
and safe. But — I shall miss him.” 

The silence between them was unbroken, as 
they went on for another block ; then, turning 
into a dark hallway, they stumbled up some 
wooden stairs which showed but dimly under 
the light of a single gas jet. At a door on the 


NATHALIE'S CHUAI 


213 


third landing, they paused to knock. Dr. 
Holden opened the door to them. 

“ Come in,” he said cheerily. “ Mikie has 
been waiting for you.” 

Even to Nathalie’s unaccustomed eyes, it was 
plain that Mikie would wait but a little longer. 
Above the untidy heap of clothing which 
formed his only coverlet, his face showed wan 
and pinched. Only the restless, eager eyes 
told that life was still in his keeping; yet 
his whole face brightened, when he saw 
Nathalie. 

“ Say, teacher, d’yer come down, purpost 
ter see me ? ” he said, in a faint, piping little 
voice. 

“ Didn’t I say I would come again, Mikie ? ” 
she asked, as she sat down on the edge of the 
old bed, and took his claw-like hand into her 
strong, warm grasp. 

“ Me mudder said ye wouldn’ come, no sech 
a day as dis ; but I bet yer would. Teacher ? ” 

“Yes, dear ?” 

“Dey says I’s goin’ ter die. Not him.” 
He let go Nathalie’s hand long enough to 
point to Dr. Holden ; then the thin claw closed 
on her fingers again. “ He never said it ; 
’twuz me mudder an’ de rabbi. I do’ wan’ ter 


214 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


die. Dere won’ be no playgroun’s dere, an’ — 
an’ — no fun.” 

There was a short silence. Then Mikie 
spoke again. 

“ Dey alwuz says I’d die, teacher. I wuz a 
twin, an’ twins don’ never live ter grow up. 
Dey’s an unlucky t’ing, however dey comes 
out. One while, I fought I’d stick it out an’ 
live ; but ’twan’ no uset.” 

“ Mikie, you are talking too much and get- 
ting all tired out,” Dr. Holden interposed, in 
the same cheery tone he had used before. 

Perhaps, if you are a very good boy, Mrs. 
Ainslee will sing something to you and you 
will drop to sleep.” 

There was a roguish gleam in the dark 
eyes, as they rolled up towards Mrs. Ainslee. 

‘‘ I’d radder have my teacher,” he objected. 

“ Sing, Nathalie,” Mrs. Ainslee said softly. 
‘‘ It will keep him quiet, perhaps.” 

Nathalie bent over the child. 

“What shall I sing, Mikie ? ” she asked. 

He made a weak effort to cuddle against her, 
and she took him into her arms. Dr. Holden 
started to interpose ; but she shook her head. 

“ No ; he doesn’t tire me. What shall it be, 
Mikie?” 








NATHALIE'S CHUM 


215 


“ Lovin’ mudder,” he said faintly ; then his 
heavy lids drooped while, softly and clearly, 
I^athalie sang to him the little kindergarten 
song he had loved so well, the song of the 
playgrounds where he had first learned the 
meaning of the simple verb to love. 

“ This is the loving mother, 

Always good and dear. 

This is the loving father, 

Brave and full of cheer.” 

Down-stairs in the street, Mikie’s mother 
was wrangling over the price of enough with- 
ered apples for a pudding. Over on Black- 
well’s Island, Mikie’s father was working out 
a sentence for wife-beating. Up-stairs in the 
one-room tenement, Mikie was ending his mis- 
shapen little existence ; and his vague pictures 
of heaven included no motherly arms, no fa- 
therly caresses; but an everlasting kinder- 
garten ring of angels where he should be 
eternally in the middle. Perhaps it was just 
as well. His life had been spent on the out- 
side. 

And meanwhile Nathalie’s voice crooned on 
and on, — 

“ This happy, happy family. 

They love each other well ” 


216 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


There was a broken-legged chair in the 
room, and a table which lacked a leaf. Yid- 
dish newspapers, yellow from long sunning, 
did duty for window-shades, she noticed, and 
the few plates on the table were barred with 
elderly streaks of fat. Most of the family pos- 
sessions were heaped on the floor, and the 
floor was not immaculate. Apparently the 
two little windows had not been opened since 
the preceding summer, and the air was murky 
and redolent of stale cabbage and staler onions. 
It sickened the girl and, without ceasing her 
song, she wondered how it would seem to 
Mikie to fall asleep here and waken in a clean, 
airy heaven. She stirred slightly, and a 
shabby tin engine clattered out from under 
the coverings. 

Mikie’s eyes opened dully. His hand left 
hers again, and wandered in the direction of his 
one and only plaything. 

“ Me mudder — was goin’ ter take it — away,” 
he said so faintly that Nathalie had to stoop 
to catch the halting words ; “ but I tol’ her — 
leave it wid me. I’m goin’ ter give it ter yer, 
teacher, — cos we useter — have fun — in de 
playgroun’s. Now — git on wid — yer singin’.” 

The claw-like hand, engine and all, had 


NATHALIE'S CHU3I 


217 


found its tired way back to Nathalie’s hand ; 
but she could not see it now. Blinded with 
sudden tears, she was finishing, as steadily as 
she might, the last of the little song, — 

“ We go across the street ; 

We ” 

Dr. Holden stepped forward abruptly ; but 
his work was ended. With his hand resting 
in Nathalie’s, his head against her arm, Mikie 
had crossed that wider street which parted his 
sodden earth from the bright heaven. 


218 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


CHAPTER SEYEHTEEN 
HE bell buzzed distractedly and, as soon 



1 as Peggy opened the door, Kingsley 
Barrett bounced into the hall. 

“ Where is Mr. Arterburn ? ” he demanded 
breathlessly. 

Here.” 

“Is he ill?” 

“ Ho ; Harry is all right.” 

“ Then why didn’t he come, this morning ? ” 

“ Nathalie isn’t very well, and ” 

“Nathalie?” 

“Yes. She has a cold or something, and 
Harry has been fussing over her, all night 
long. Now I might have a whole consump- 
tion, and he wouldn’t worry a bit.” Peggy’s 
tone was aggrieved. 

“Well, you don’t look as if you were in 
any danger at present, Peggy. When you 
are, let me know and I’ll order an extra fine 
black polish on my Sunday shoes. Can I see 
Mr. Arterburn ? ” 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


219 


“ Yes, I suppose so ; but I have told you all 
there is to tell.” 

“ I don’t doubt it ; but I want to see for 
myself that he is all right.” 

“ Oh, you don’t need to worry about Harry. 
He is never sick. He just thinks it is nice to 
pretend not well, so he won’t have to ” 

“ Shut up ! ” Kingsley ordered her, with an 
explosiveness which was scarcely courtly. 

Peggy’s back stiffened. 

“ I guess I can speak about my own brother 
as I choose,” she said haughtily. 

“ I guess you can’t, not if you choose to be 
saying pesky things about him, and I am 
around to stop you. If you ever get one tenth 
good enough to deserve to own such a brother,- 
I shall be mightily astonished^” Kingsley 
growled. “ How will you be good enough to 
tell him I am here ; or must I go to hunt him 
up?” 

“ I’ll go.” And Peggy meekly departed. 

Harry Arter burn’s tired face lighted, as he 
caught sight of his pupil. 

“ Kex ! I am glad to see you.” 

Kingsley looked pleased at the greeting. 

I was so worried, I couldn’t stop away,” 
he said simply. 


220 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“Worried ? ” 

“ Y es, about you. I was afraid you were ill.” 

Harry flushed. 

“ Has Mac been telling tales ? He said he 
wouldn’t.” 

“ Then he hasn’t. Mac keeps his word al- 
ways. But I didn’t need any tales. I have 
eyes of my own, and I have known for months 
that you weren’t well.” 

“ My bad temper ? ” Harry tried to laugh. 

“JSTo,” Kingsley said bluntly. “ I shouldn’t 
have blamed you, if you’d had a beast of a 
temper sometimes ; though, for a fact, I have 
tried to be more decent lately.” 

“ Don’t you suppose I have appreciated it, 
Kex?” his tutor asked as, with a swift, im- 
pulsive gesture, he held out his hand to the 
boy. “ I wish you could enjoy our work to- 
gether one half as much as I have done, this 
spring.” 

There was a pause, while two pairs of hon- 
est, manly eyes, the gray and the blue, met 
each other squarely. Then Kingsley broke 
the pause. 

“ Perhaps I do,” he said gravely. 

When Harry spoke again, there was a little 
break in his voice. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


221 


“Eex, Nathalie is ill.” 

“ Eeally ill ? What’s the matter ? ” 

“ I don’t know. I know nothing at all 
about illness ; but I can’t help being worried. 
She caught cold, four or five weeks ago, and 
it has hung on. She coughs a good deal, and 
she has kept adding more cold to what she 
had before. Yesterday, she was a great deal 
worse, and ” 

“ And you want Mac about as soon as you 
can get him,” the boy supplemented. 

‘‘ Yes, I think we would better have him 
come up. Where is he ? ” 

“ Out on his rounds somewhere.” 

Harry’s face fell. 

“ Then we can’t get him here till ” 

“ Till I find him ; but that won’t be long,” 
Kingsley interrupted. “Mac is such an old 
betty that he makes out a list of his calls, 
every morning. If he has left it in his office, 
as he generally does, I can track him and hunt 
him down. Anything else I can do ? ” 

“No. Yes, telephone to the Dean that I 
can’t meet my class, this afternoon. That’s 
all, and thank you.” 

The boy lingered irresolutely. 

“ You don’t think Nathalie ” 


222 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


Harry stopped him short. 

“ I’m not doing any thinking, Hex.” 

“ How are you going to stand it, yourself ? ” 
Kingsley asked anxiously. 

“ I shall stand it. People always do. Don’t 
worry.” 

“All right. I’m gone. I shall be back 
with Mac before long.” 

A cab stand was near, and Kingsley was in 
his cousin’s office, rummaging his desk, before 
the panting horse had come to a full stop. It 
was not that he was especially alarmed about 
Hathalie. With boyish optimism, he assured 
himself that she would come out all right ; 
but he had seen the grayish shadow on his 
tutor’s face, and he was determined to spare 
Harry every possible moment of anxious wait- 
ing. His tutor was far from well ; he himself 
had betrayed the fact that Dr. Holden con- 
sidered the case serious, and Kingsley was 
man enough to admit to himself that, through- 
out the entire autumn and early winter, he had 
done his sinful best to wear out the nerves of 
his long-suffering preceptor. How, the least 
he could do to atone for his past iniquities 
was to make the present crisis as easy as he 
could. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


223 


“ It’s all the fault of that beastly slumming, 
Mac,” Harry Arterburn said vengefully, an 
hour later. 

“I was afraid you would say so,” Dr. 
Holden answered. “It was an awful day, 
that day we were in Hester Street, when 
Mikie died. I was anxious about Hathalie 
then, to see how she would stand the strain of 
it, and the exposure, and all. Betty did take 
cold; but I couldn’t discover that Nathalie 
was any the worse for it. I made a point of 
seeing her, every day for a week. She caught 
this cold, going to drive with Kingsley.” 

“ Confound it all ! Am I responsible ? ” 
Kingsley demanded mournfully. 

“ You here, Kex ? I thought you had gone 
home.” 

“Ho; I wanted to hear what you would 
say, and I thought Mr. Arterburn might have 
some errands for me to do. I waited, on the 
chance.” 

“ I’ll give you an errand, in five minutes. 
How, Hal, you’ve got to abide by my orders. 
I am going to send a note to Mrs. Ainslee and 
ask her to take Peggy for a week. Aunt 
Babe will look out for Fizzums and Kalph ; I 
know her of old. That will leave Sister Shaw 


224 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


to take care of E^athalie, and I shall have a 
plain talk with her and give her to understand 
that I won’t have any of her monkey tricks. 
What Nathalie needs is care and stimulants.” 

“ Then you think ” 

Yes, it is double pneumonia. That doesn’t 
mean it is hopeless, though. The season is in 
her favor ; Nathalie has a superb constitution, 
and her heart action is perfect. I think she 
will come through it safely. I wish I could 
feel as certain of you.” 

Harry smiled rather wanly. 

“ Promise me Nathalie, and I will promise 
you myself, Mac. I mustn’t lose the child. 
You don’t know what she is to me.” 

“ I can imagine. I’ve had Betty, you know.” 

“ It’s not the same. Nathalie is my sister, 
my very own. Mac, I can’t even think of 
losing her. You will pull her through ? ” 

“ Steady, old man ! ” Dr. Holden’s tone 
was as even and soothing as if he had been 
talking to a nervous child. “ I’ll do all I can, 
Hal, unless you would rather have an older 
doctor.” 

Harry had been swift to regain his self- 
control. Now he spoke with a world of 
dignity in his low voice. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


225 


“ I sent for you, Mac.’’ 

Their eyes met, and they exchanged a long 
look of perfect understanding. Then Dr. 
Holden fell to writing rapidly. 

“ Here, Rex,” he said ; “ these are for your 
mother and Betty. Tell your mother I wish 
she would come up and help terrorize Eudora 
Evelina, and tell her to bring three bottles, 
not two, while she is about it. I am going to 
take Mr. Arterburn in hand, as well as Nath- 
alie. He will need all the strength he can 
get, if he is to help take care of her. We 
needn’t look for a trained nurse — yet.” 

Late that afternoon, the children were sent 
away, and the apartment took on the quiet 
routine which establishes itself with serious 
illness. Mrs. Barrett came over promptly, 
and, for a long hour, she and Eudora Evelina 
were shut up together in the pantry. When 
they emerged, both women showed signs of 
the strife ; but Eudora Evelina was cowed, 
Mrs. Barrett triumphant. Then Mrs. Barrett 
crossed the hall to Nathalie’s room. 

She frowned, as she halted on the threshold. 
Confusion reigned on all sides, the confusion 
which accompanies sudden illness attended by 
a man untrained in nursing, and by a spinster 


226 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


whose aesthetic sense is mediaeval and rudi- 
mentary. Then Mrs. Barrett’s eyes met those 
of ISTathalie, and she smiled in a comfortable, 
reassuring fashion which convinced the girl 
that she was not so very ill, after all. 

“ Yes, I just popped in to see you for a min- 
ute,” the guest said, as with a dozen deft 
touches she restored order to the room. “I 
am carrying off the boys, for a few days. I’ve 
been meaning to ask them, this long time, and 
this will be a good chance. Eex wanted me 
to tell you he is counting on your driving 
with him, Saturday. Good-bye.” And she 
vanished. 

“ I don’t like the looks of her, Mac,” she 
said, that night, as she sat gazing up at her 
tall nephew. “ It has taken a firm hold of 
her, and you will have a fight. If anything 
went wrong, I’m not sure her brother would 
go through it, either.” 

Dr. Holden nodded gravely. He was well 
aware that the fight was on, and that its issue 
was by no means a foregone conclusion. 

“ What about a nurse ? ” Mrs. Barrett asked, 
after a pause. 

“ I shall have to order one, in the morning. 
Aunt Babe. I hoped at first that they could 


NATHALIE'S GHmi 


227 


get on without ; but it’s no use. That Shaw 
woman doesn’t do anything but sit and rock 
and munch cassia buds ; in fact, I’m not sure 
she knows enough to do anything else. I am 
sorry, for Arterburn is in no condition to bear 
the extra expense of a nurse.” 

“ He needn’t. I’ll see to that.” 

“ That is like you. Aunt Babe ; but I doubt 
if he would accept it from you. He’s proud 
as Lucifer, and he thinks you have done too 
much for him, as it is.” 

“ Hm ! ” Mrs. Barrett remarked thought- 
fully. “ If that is the case, we shall have to 
do a little judicious fibbing. Get the best 
nurse that is free, to-morrow. Miss Hillis, if 
you can. Then, for purposes of argument, 
we’ll assume that she is a mere apology for a 
nurse and goes cheap. I can manage it some- 
how, if the nurse herself only possesses a sense 
of humor. Anything else I can do ? ” 

“ Isn’t this enough ? ” Dr. Holden inquired 
gratefully. ‘‘ You have taken several loads off 
my shoulders already. Aunt Babe.” 

“ Hever mind about the thanks of a grateful 
people,” his aunt interposed. “We’!! see about 
that, later. The fact is that I am absurdly 
fond of both those Arterburns. I am not sure 


228 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


which of them I like better. If you will pull 
them through the crisis, Mac, I will agree to 
help with the convalescence. ISTow fight your 
best, and the spirit of your grandfather be 
upon you ! ” 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


229 


CHAPTEK EIGHTEEN 

“You who were ever the first to befriend a man, 

You who were ever the first to defend a man, 

You who had always the money to lend a man 
Down on his luck and hard up for a ‘ V ’ ! 

Sure, you’ll be playing a harp in beatitude, 

(And a quare sight you will be in that attitude) 

Some day, where gratitude seems like a platitude 
You’ll find your latitude, Barney McGee! ” 

G IFFOKD BAEEETT looked up from a 
scattered, inky ream of music paper. 
“Babe, you do flat detestably, and, as I 
have remarked before, the Hovey-Bullard 
combination isn’t classic.” 

“Who taught it to me, I’d like to know. 
You said you heard it for the first time in a 
Back Bay drawing-room.” 

“Yes, one Saturday night. After a supper 
of beans, even that would sound heavy and 
good. Still, there’s a time for all things, and 
I am just finishing the last movement of my 
symphony.” 


230 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


Mrs. Barrett sat down on the piano stool 
and rested both elbows on the keys. 

“ I should think it was high time,” she said 
disrespectfully, as soon as the discordant crash 
had died away. “ You have been at work on 
it, this whole blessed winter. Why don’t you 
do as Schubert did, and produce a masterpiece 
at a sitting ? ” 

“ Perhaps, because I’m not Schubert,” Mr. 
Barrett suggested mildly. 

“ Nor yet the composer of Barney McGee. 
Giff, I am mortally proud of you.” 

“ Good old Babe ! You are a comfort to a 
creative mind. The only drawback is that 
you would be just as enthusiastic, if I turned out 
trash.” 

‘‘I wouldn’t, then. Even if I’m not mu- 
sical, I can read English. Don’t you suppose I 
know what the critics say of your work ? 
Ted’s is nothing in comparison. I can imagine 
writing books. In fact, I did write a story 
once, and it met its death by being rejected 
until it was worn into shreds. Writing books 
is nothing but peptonized talking ; writing 
music passes my ken. How one can pile a 
dozen noises on top of each other, and then 
string the piles together and have any idea 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


231 


how the thing will sound in the end— that is a 
mystery to me. It’s more intangible than 
mental healing. Giif ! ” 

“ Babe ! ” 

“Are you going to make a great deal of 
money out of this symphony ? ” 

Her husband looked at her in dismayed 
surprise. 

“ Phebe, this is the first time I ever heard 
you ask that question.” 

She laughed. 

“ Because I asked it once too often of Ted. 
I shall never forget the lecture she read me. 
But I am more mercenary than usual, just at 
present.” 

“ Oh, I remember. I suppose you came for 
something.” 

“ Don’t I generally ? ” she asked auda- 
ciously. 

“ Yes, always. What now ? ” 

“ Money, and lots of it.” 

He put his hand into his pocket, and counted 
out four pennies, a five cent piece, and two 
silver dimes. 

“ Where is the bargain counter ? ” he in- 
quired. 

She took possession of the money. 


232 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“ How generous ! They are advertising a 
sale of dog collars, to-day, and I may need one 
some time. Just now, though, I want to do a 
work of supererogatory charity, and I want 
you to pay the bills, good big ones.” Then 
she grew grave. “ How, Giff, listen to me. I 
want to ask Hathalie and Harry Arterburn to 
Quantuck for July. Lyn and Paul will be 
West, this summer, and there will be plenty of 
room at Yalhalla. Hathalie isn’t strong yet, 
and a month by the sea will set them both up 
wonderfully.” 

“ Have you asked them yet ? ” 

“ Ho ; of course not, without saying any- 
thing to you.” 

“ Hurry up and ask them, then. They may 
like to be making their plans for it. When 
do you mean to go ? ” 

“ Directly after commencement, without 
coming home at all.” 

Mr. Barrett thoughtfully drummed on the 
table. 

“ Arterburn is a Yale man, and Hathalie is 
a wholly presentable young person,” he sug- 
gested. “ Why don’t we take them over there 
with us ? Lyn could get extra cards for Hath- 
alie for anything she was old enough to take 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


233 


in, and it would be quite an event for her. 
I’ll tell Arterburn I want him to keep an eye 
on Eex, this summer. That will make him 
feel easy in his mind. How do go away. 
You are sitting on top of my trio, and your 
conversation is proving the death of my fugue. 
If you will only get out and leave me alone. 
I’ll name this the Infanta Symphony in your 
honor.” 

‘‘Better call it the Inferno, to judge by the 
sounds that have accompanied its production,” 
she retorted. Then she went away out of the 
room, singing in a curious blending of many 
keys the closing refrain, — 

“ Barney, here’s luck and more to you, 

Barney, friends by the score to you, 

Barney, true to the core to you, 

Barney McGee ! ” 

As Mrs. Barrett had predicted, five weeks 
before, it had been a close fight for Hathalie’s 
life. The weak bends; the strong breaks. 
Hathalie, who had never before known a sick 
day in her life, went steadily down and down 
into the Yalley of the Shadow. For ten days, 
Dr. Holden, Harry and the nurse fought 
shoulder to shoulder, bravely, but apparently 


234 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


in vain. Nathalie was slowly but surely 
losing ground ; just as surely it seemed that 
Harry Arterburn was giving his life in the 
hope of saving his sister. Dr. Holden remon- 
strated with him ; but it was to no purpose. 
It did no good to forbid broken nights and 
restless days ; and the doctor was forced to 
content himself with keeping careful watch 
over two patients instead of one. 

Kingsley haunted the house, and Mrs. Bar- 
rett made daily calls. Then there came one 
sorrowful night when Dr. Holden scarcely left 
the nurse’s side, and Kingsley, fully dressed, 
lay on the couch in the dining-room, to be 
within reach in case of need. But when 
morning came and they gathered around the 
breakfast-table, Kingsley’s mood found vent 
in a succession of feeble jokes, and Dr. Holden 
felt that he had proved his right to the name 
of McAlister. His grandfather himself could 
have fought no braver fight than he had done. 

His reward came, late that same afternoon, 
when he tore open a yellow envelope and read 
with surprise the telegram within, — 

‘‘ Proud as usual of my namesake ! Thank 
Phebe for wiring. John McAlisterf 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


235 


J^athalie went down like lead ; she came up 
like a cork. And yet, after all, the last of 
June found both Harry and herself a good 
deal the worse for their experience ; and it had 
been with much eagerness that Dr. Holden 
had urged upon them the advisability of ac- 
cepting Mrs. Barrett’s invitation. 

And so it came about that the apartment 
was closed, Eudora Evelina was in Vermont 
with the three younger children and, one 
scorching morning in late June, Nathalie and 
Mrs. Barrett were perched on a window-seat in 
Vanderbilt, looking down upon the kaleido- 
scopic groups which swarmed over the Yale 
campus. 

To Nathalie, the past five days had been a 
golden, glorious dream, and she was quite at a 
loss to understand the mood of her brother 
who had come back on a year when his class 
had no reunion, and to a campus shorn of cer- 
tain old buildings whose very shadows were 
dear to him. He missed the narrow vista 
seen through the Old Treasury door ; he missed 
the aged belfry of the Lyceum, and he 
mourned for Horth Middle as for an old-time 
friend. 

Nathalie missed no old friends ; instead, she 


236 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


was giving her allegiance to many new ones : 
the elm-shadowed campus, the ivied brown 
walls, the groups of black-gowned seniors and 
brightly-dressed girls who wandered to and 
fro, laughing and chattering with an utter 
lack of reverence for a place whose bi-cen- 
tennial was already in the past. On the night 
of her arrival, with Kingsley and her brother 
she strolled about the campus for a long hour 
which she never forgot. Years after, she 
would still see the full moon riding high above 
the little spires of the old library, still hear 
the chimes as they rang clearly down from 
Battell tower, and then lost themselves in the 
lilt of the student songs below. 

Up in the Yanderbilt window, Kingsley 
rested, cherub fashion, on the edge of the win- 
dow-seat at Nathalie’s side. 

“ I tell you,” he observed ; “ it’s worth while 
gardening for Greek roots, if the crop is sure 
to turn into this sort of thing. Look at that 
old duffer in the scarlet hood! And that 
huge, iron-gray man in the eye-glasses and the 
blue and white toggery I Even the band looks 
shabby beside them.” 

“There is Lyn!” Mrs, Barrett announced 
from her window. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


237 


“ Where ? ” 

Over in the group on the library steps. 
He has his hand up now. See him ! ” 

“ Steady, mater ! He’ll keep, and you might 
kill some Corporation, if you tumbled out on 
its head. Do you see him, Nathalie ? ” 

“ Yes ; but who is the man with the purple 
hood, coming through Phelps Arch ? ” she an- 
swered, with a calmness which secretly de- 
lighted Kingsley who had feared lest Nathalie 
transfer her allegiance from him to his senior 
brother. 

“ Don’t know. He’s very cocky. Likewise, 
he feels the heat. There’s your brother.” 

“ Oh, where ? ” 

“Look out! You’ll tip yourself out of the 
window and get yourself stepped on. He is 
over there, not far from Lyn. Say, Nathalie, 
he’s not a bad-looking fellow in his gown and 
hood.” 

“ Did you suppose he was ? ” 

“ Ho ; but, even in this crowd, you notice 
him. Caesar Moses, look at the reception he 
is getting I Even your purple hood is saying 
‘ Howdy ’ to him.” 

“ Of course,” Hathalie assented tranquilly. 
“ They are glad to see him back.” 


238 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“ I wonder if they will feel that same way 
about me,” Kingsley said meditatively. 

“ Depends on how you behave yourself.” 

“ Lyn made Bones, and so did Mac.” 

“ Harry made Keys.” 

“Shame you can’t come to Yale, so you 
could take advantage of his pull ! How hon- 
estly, Hathalie, what do you think of Lyn ? ” 

“ I like him,” she answered guardedly. 

“ Hot as well as you do me, though ? ” 

“ Ho,” she said honestly ; “ I don’t. You are 
more my kind. He is too finicky and elegant.” 

“ Thank you.” 

She laughed, as she realized what form her 
words had taken. 

“ Oh, but you aren’t, you know,” she added 
teasingly. “ I was afraid you were going to 
be, when I first knew you ; but now I know 
you better, I’m not worried. Still, there’s 
room for improvement.” 

“ I’m glad you admit so much. Are you 
coming to my commencement ? ” 

“If I get bidden; but that is five years 
from now. You may have forgotten all about 
us.” 

He looked up at the girlish figure poised be- 
side him. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


239 


“IS’ot much danger, I fancy.” 

But Mrs. Barrett broke in distractedly, — 

“ What can be the matter with Lyn’s mortar- 
board ? It doesn’t fit him ; and he takes his 
gown up on his heels, in spite of all my in- 
structions. Horrid, flappy thing! It makes 
him look like a huge bat. Mac Holden, where 
did you drop down from ? ” 

“ Hew York. Aunt Ted and Betty will be 
here at eleven.” 

“ What 1 What for ? ” 

“ To see me take a degree.” 

‘‘ You ? ” 

In her excitement, Mrs. Barrett forgot her 
son outside and turned to her nephew within. 
Tall and alert, his blue eyes glowing, his every 
motion instinct with energy. Dr. McAlister 
Holden looked very much of a man, as he stood 
smiling down into the eyes of his aunt. 

“Your tone isn’t at all respectful,” he ob- 
jected. 

“ But you aren’t a graduate of anything.” 

“ Only of Yale.” 

“ That’s a good while ago.” 

He laughed again. Then he explained. 

“It’s an honorary M. A. I’ve only just 
been notified.” 


240 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“ Mac ! I’m so proud of you ! ” she said, as 
she seized his hands in hers. 

“I knew you would like it, Aunt Babe. 
But the procession is about ready, and I must 
be off. Aunt Ted will go directly to the 
chapel, so don’t wait.” And he went striding 
away. 

Out under the elms, the groups shifted and 
shifted again, then slowly melted into one long 
procession such as has few equals in America 
for beauty and impressiveness : the hooded and 
gowned Corporation, the long line of candi- 
dates for degrees, and then the still longer line 
of graduates, headed by gray-haired men bowed 
with years and honors, and ending with the 
callow bantlings of the last year’s class, as full 
of pranks as they had been at the hour of their 
admission to a seat on the fence. Around 
them, the crowd of spectators surged and 
wavered to and fro, seeking for a good point 
of view; above, the windows of the dormi- 
tories were filled with dainty gowns and 
bright faces; over their heads, the elm-trees 
rustled softly, sending down a benediction upon 
the sons of Yale who were leaving her, never 
to return. 

Over the great throng there lay the hush of 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


241 


expectant waiting. Then the band crashed 
into the time-honored march which, once 
heard there, never fails to take the listener 
back to the memory of many a June morning 
on the campus. 

‘ ‘ On-ward, Christ-ian Soldiera, ’ ’ 

clear, true and staccato^ it rings out, each year 
more impressive than the last. 

“ March-ing as to war ! ’’ 

And the great line goes winding away past the 
fences, through Phelps Arch, across the city 
green, back again through Yanderbilt and so 
into the chapel. 

More than an hour later, there came the 
presentation of candidates for honorary de- 
grees, and the attention, which had wavered a 
little, quickened into life again. Up in the 
west gallery, the orchestra were lounging in 
their seats with the bored indifference of men 
who were harkening to an old story. The 
powers on the platform had relaxed something 
of their dignified erectness, and were flapping 
palm-leaf fans. In the north gallery, a little 
group of women were straining their eyes to 


242 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


\ 


watch for the appearing of Dr. McAlister 
Holden. 

He came at last, and a quick murmur greeted 
him and drowned the first words of his pre- 
sentation. Then they detached themselves, 
and became clear and distinct, — 

“ Dr. McAlister Holden, for his great 

service rendered to the poor of Hew York 
City, for his gallant fight for the betterment 
of tenement house conditions, and for his gen- 
erous giving of his professional abilities to the 
needs of the children ” 

But the rest was lost in the sound of ap- 
plause. Up in the gallery, Hathalie looked on 
with bright, moist eyes, wondering vaguely 
why she felt so stirred by the scene, and trying 
her best to connect the central figure in it 
with the strong, cheery, simple-hearted man 
who had lifted Mikie from her tired arms. 

Across the chapel, the full sunshine struck 
upon the silvery hair of a man whose head rose 
nobly from his rich robes. His face was alight 
with happiness ; and Hathalie, who could 
neither know why he had chosen to appear in 
full academic dress, nor hear him murmuring 
to himself, “ JSFunc dimittis^ Domine ! ” yet 
watched him steadily for a minute. Kingsley, 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


243 


who was looking up from below, followed her 
eager glance. 

“ Pater ! ’’ he said excitedly. “ Pater, come 
quick ! Here’s grandpa ! ” 


244 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


CHAPTER HIHETEEH 
HE mainland was blazing, one July morn- 



i ing ; but, far out at sea, Quantuck lay 
cool and breezy, sparkling like a huge gem set 
in a silver ring. 

It was too early for the bathing hour ; but 
Hathalie and Harry had already donned their 
suits and strolled down to the beach. Nathalie 
was digging tunnels near the awning, and 
Harry lay sprawled beside her, with his head 
pillowed on his closed book and his eyes fixed 
upon the restless, sailless sea. A handful of 
wet sand falling on his neck roused him to the 
consciousness that Nathalie was bending over 
him, looking down at him with merry, laugh- 
ing eyes. 

“ Come back to Quantuck, Harry ! ” she 
ordered him. 

“ Adsum ! ” he responded. 

“ Where were you ? ” 

“Wandering back and forth between Got- 
tingen and Heidelberg.” 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


245 


“ Would you like to go back there ? ” 

“Wouldn't I ? Some day, we’ll go together, 
chum. Meanwhile, it’s not so bad, here at 
Quantuck.” 

“ No ; I should say not.” ISTathalie’s tone 
was full of enthusiasm. Two weeks had suf- 
ficed to win her allegiance to the quaint fish- 
ing village and the broad stripe of beach where 
the surf pounded unceasingly. “You don’t 
look the same fellow who came down here, 
Harry,” she added, after a pause. 

He sighed in mock resignation. 

“ I was wondering, only this morning, Nath- 
alie, whether you ever would bleach out again. 
You were a tolerably decent-looking girl, when 
you came down here.” 

“ What am I now ? ” she queried. 

He laughed, as he rolled over on his back 
to stare up at the cloud-spotted sky. 

“Well, you certainly look healthy,” he ad- 
mitted. “ You are as fat as a cub, your hair 
is positively pale beside your face, and you 
whack your everlasting golf balls with a vigor 
that makes me tremble for the fate of your 
caddie.” 

“ Likewise, I can swim,” she added proudly. 
“You and Kex are making an expert of me. 


246 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


I actually did eight strokes, yesterday, without 
finding my head where my heels ought to be. 
Who taught you to swim, Harry ? ’’ 

“ Father. We were at Annisquam, the year 
you were born, and he used to take me in, 
every day. It’s not the only good lesson he 
gave me, though.” 

There was a short silence between them. 
Nathalie had stretched herself out on the 
sand, with her head resting on her plump, 
tanned arms, and her hair ruffled into a 
golden halo around her sunburned face. She 
was less pretty, perhaps, than she had been, a 
month before ; but her look of perfect health 
and girlish activity atoned for the lack of 
beauty. Harry studied her face with pride. 

‘‘ I wish he could have seen you now, Nath- 
alie,” he said impulsively. 

She smiled. 

“I miss them, Harry, miss them terribly. 
After all, though, if they were here now, we 
never could be half the chums we are. You 
would be absorbed in your work ; I in school 
and in the prospect of coming out, some day 
or other. The grind we are going through 
isn’t fun ; but I believe we’re better friends 
for putting it through, side by side.” 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


247 


“ You’re a comfort, chum. But I wish I 
didn’t have to scrimp you so, just as you are 
growing up.” 

Regardless of who might see her, she turned 
around till her yellow head rested on his out- 
stretched arm. 

“ I’ve all I need, Harry.” 

“ Hot all you want, though.” 

‘‘Yes,” she said thoughtfully; “I have all I 
want. As long as you keep strong, the rest 
doesn’t count for much.” 

“ Mac would say I was in thriving condition 
now,” Harry observed, with a smile. 

“ Dear Dr. Holden ! ” Hathalie burst out 
impetuously. “ Harry, I believe I never shall 
forget how he looked, standing there to get 
his degree. He made the others 'seem so in- 
ferior ; and yet he was just as simple as he 
used to be when he ran races with the boys 
in Seward Park. I wonder if there are many 
such men.” 

“ What a hero-worshipper you are ! ” 

“ Why shouldn’t I be ? Think of all he has 
done for me ! I don’t mean just the taking 
me through pneumonia,” she added, as she felt 
her brother’s arm tighten around her ; “ but 


248 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


in all sorts of ways. All in all, Dr. Holden is 
the finest man I have ever known.” 

“ What about me ? ” 

She nestled her head against him con- 
tentedly. 

“ Oh, you are my brother and my chum, 
and an exception to every rule,” she said, with 
a perfect unconsciousness of the future day 
when any exception would cease to exist. 
“Do you remember Dr. Holden in Yale?” 
she asked, after an interval. 

“ Ho ; only in the glee club. He was in 
Lawrance, and only went over to White in 
his senior year, after I had left. I dimly 
remember his being discussed at the time 
of senior elections. His grandfather was a 
famous man in his own class, and the fellows 
said he helped Holden’s pull. Since I have 
known Mac, I doubt it.” 

“ Speaking of angels ! ” Kingsley observed, 
as he suddenly threw himself down beside 
them. 

“ I question whether angels are prone to 
have blistered noses, Kex,” Hathalie suggested 
unkindly. 

“ That’s your view,” he responded. “ But I 
was referring to another angel this time. Mao 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


249 


has just wired us he will be over, Thursday 
afternoon.” 

“ To be at Valhalla?” 

“ No ; at the Lodge. Aunt Ted always 
claims that he is her property, down here, and 
Betty’s summer would be spoiled, if he were 
in another cottage. We have him for so much 
of the time, winters, that it is only fair they 
should take their turn.” 

“ How long will he be here ? ” 

“ A ten days or so.” 

“ Is that all ? ” 

“ Too bad ; but one can get up a good deal 
of complexion in that time. How soon are 
you coming in ? ” 

“ Oh, it’s too early yet,” she demurred. 
“ Hobody is down here, nobody that counts. 
Let’s wait till our people come.” 

“ Once on a time, young woman, you made 
a row when I said something of that sort,” 
Kingsley reminded her. 

“ Did I ? I don’t remember.” 

“ I do. You pointed out the fact that I was 
exceeding snobbish, because I refused to ask 
an outsider to a party. How you refuse to 
share the Atlantic Ocean with any but your 
own crowd. You ought to be blushing with 


250 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


shame. You may be, for anything I know to 
the contrary ; you’re so burned that mere 
blushes can’t get a fair show. Come along 
and get wet, this minute ! ” And they left 
Harry to stare after them contentedly, as they 
went racing down the beach. 

Out on Quantuck links, that afternoon, the 
moorland was dappled with the moving shad- 
ows of the clouds which turned the wild roses 
from pink to crimson and darkened the patches 
of mealy plum to the tint of woodland moss. 
In the distance, David’s Hills lay blue in the 
sunlight, and the white road to Town cut the 
moors like a silvery ruler laid across the island. 
Crisp and fresh, the wind blew up from the 
sea, bringing with it the clean, pure saltiness 
that comes from deep blue water and has never 
known the taint which rises from uncovered 
banks and bars of sand. 

“We’ll play twice round, to-day,” Nathalie 
said, as she and Kingsley tramped away up the 
white, dusty road. 

“ Are you up to it ? ” 

She made a grimace of disdain. 

“ It depends on what you mean. I’ve plenty 
of strength, even if I haven’t the skill. But 
what about you ? ” 








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NATHALIE'S CHUM 


251 


“ Game law is off, and they told me I might 
do whatever I chose, this summer.’’ 

“It must seem good, after you have been 
under strict orders for two years. I can’t imag- 
ine how it would feel, to have to be careful. 
I was never ill in my life, till last spring, and 
that nearly killed me.” 

“ So Mac thought. But I have hated it, my- 
self. It isn’t so bad for a girl ; but a fellow 
feels such a fool, when he can’t go into things. 
Next winter, I’m going to make up for lost 
time.” 

“ Does that mean you are going to cut loose 
from Harry, and go into a school ? ” 

“ Hot if I know myself. I like Mr. Arter- 
burn too well for that. If he’ll keep me. I’ll 
keep him, sure thing. Ho ; but I am going 
into polo and things. The pater says I can 
have a horse, and I mean to get all the fun 
that’s going.” 

She looked up at him with a sudden flash of 
admiration. He was striding along at her 
side, his cap on the back of his head, his 
sleeves rolled up above his brown elbows and 
both caddy bags slung on his back. 

“Well, what’s the matter ? ” he asked, as he 
met her glance. 


252 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“I was thinking how you had improved, 
since I first knew you,’’ she answered saucily. 

“All your work, ma’am. If you keep on 
long enough, you’ll make a man of me.” 

“ Me ? I’d like to know how.” 

He surveyed her quizzically. 

“Good work tells, even on poor material. 
The mater will assure you that you have 
knocked some of the nonsense out of me. 
Keep on knocking, and you may get some 
sense into me.” 

The lawn in front of the old gray club-house 
was full, that day, and a dozen groups were 
scattered around the links. Kingsley and 
Kathalie were well known, well liked in the 
summer colony. They nodded to friends here 
and there ; yet, as usually happened, they pre- 
ferred to go over the course by themselves. 
Hot only were they closely matched ; but they 
rarely tired of each other’s society. Good 
friends as they had been in Kew York, the two 
weeks spent under one roof had bound them 
into a still closer friendship which was des- 
tined to outlast many a passing year. They 
never flirted, they often clashed ; yet each of 
them was vaguely conscious of the perfect un- 
derstanding between them, the perfect fellow- 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


253 


ship, the perfect satisfaction gained only in the 
presence of the other. JSTeither of them ever 
paused to meditate upon the fact that one of 
them was a boy, the other a girl. Such minor 
and superficial details did not count in a 
friendship like theirs ; it is only the uncertain 
friendship which calls for analysis. 

At the fourth hole, they tied. As Nathalie 
settled her ball on the tee, Kingsley and the 
two caddies drew near to watch her stroke. 

‘‘ Don’t get too close to me, Louis,” she cau- 
tioned her own caddie, as she took her driver 
from the bag. “ You know I always want 
plenty of room, so you must be sure to stand 
away back of me. Look out for him, Kex. 
He gets so near that he makes me nervous.” 

Kingsley nodded his assent. Then he turned 
to answer the salutation of an approaching 
group. As he turned back again, he was in 
time to see Louis, in his eagerness forgetful of 
Nathalie’s warning, edging forward to gain a 
good view of her play. For an instant, he 
stood there, careless of his danger, with the 
sunshine striking full across his ruddy, chubby 
little face, and the clean, salty wind lifting the 
curly yellow hair from his forehead. The 
next instant, the driver swung upward in a 


254 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


swift, strong curve, straight towards the 
round, boyish face. Between instant and in- 
stant, there is small time for action; but it 
sufiBlced. With a single leap, Kingsley sprang 
forward and pushed the caddie to one side. 
Then, without a sound, he dropped at Nath- 
alie’s feet, still and white, with a purple bruise 
on his temple to mark the spot where the 
driver had dealt its merciless blow. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


255 


CHAPTEK TWENTY 
OU needn’t have been so upset in your 



X mind about it,” Kingsley said con- 
solingly. 

“ You were a good deal upset, yourself, I 
noticed,” she answered, with a forced laugh. 

“In my body, though. You are a sturdy 
lady, Nathalie ; there’s no doubt of the fact. 
If I hadn’t been hard-headed, you would have 
done for me, sure.” 

“ Rex I ” she said imploringly. 

He saw that her nerves were still unsteady, 
and he forbore to tease her any longer. 

“Honestly, Nathalie, it didn’t amount to 
anything. The worst of it all was the scare 
you had. I was sorry not to warn you ; but I 
hadn’t time.” 

“They say you saved Louis,” she said 
slowly. “It seemed to me I could strike 
them, when they were all telling that over 
and over again, and you lay there so still. As 
if I cared for Louis, beside you ! ” 


256 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“ Louis is as good a little boy as ever wore 
a turn-down collar,” Kingsley observed. 

“Yes, just like fifty other boys, and you 
saved his life, when you didn’t know what it 
would do to you.” 

“ I didn’t stop to think. There wasn’t time 
for much red tape and final reflections. Under 
such conditions, it’s a fellow’s instinct to jump, 
and I jumped. That’s all there was about it, 
so you needn’t try to make me into a hero.” 

“You made yourself,” she said gravely. 
“ How did it feel, Eex ? ” 

“ As if a dozen lighthouses had tumbled on 
my head, and all their lights had blazed out at 
once. You haven’t a gentle, feminine touch, 
Kathalie, and for once I must confess to hav- 
ing been hard hit.” 

Stooping over the hammock where he lay 
stretched out at full length, she patted the 
blue lump on his forehead. 

“ Poor old boy ! I’ve left my mark on you. 
But that wasn’t what I meant. How did it 
feel when you were getting up your nerve to 
rescue Louis ? ” 

“ It felt very much as if you’d bust the little 
chap to smithereens, if I didn’t hurry up about 
it,” he responded prosaically. “It’s no go, 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


257 


[N'athalie. I can’t do any heroics. Let’s go 
down and see Mr. Bond bring in his fish.” 

It was Thursday morning and, side by side 
on the cliif, two cottages were in a stir of prep- 
aration. That afternoon, Dr. Holden was to 
reach Dandelion Lodge, Mrs. Farrington’s cot- 
tage ; next door, at Valhalla, Mrs. Barrett was 
making ready for the family dinner party 
which was to take place, that night. A sound 
of brooms and egg-beaters was in the land ; and 
Mr. Barrett and Mr. Farrington had prudently 
retreated to the shelter of the awning and the 
dubious pleasures of a forty-eight-hour-old Sun^ 
while their wives exchanged bulletins of do- 
mestic progress from their respective ve- 
randas. 

Down on the sand, Nathalie and Kingsley 
lingered in the sunshine, watching Mr. Bond 
beach his dory and toss out the gleaming fish. 
Then, turning, they sauntered away up the 
beach with the breakers pounding heavily on 
one side of them, the wind lightly rustling the 
silver grass on the other. Far off on the 
horizon, a faint, thin banner of smoke marked 
the passing of an invisible steamer ; nearer at 
hand, the white foam over the rips tossed and 
surged ceaselessly, lifting itself high against 


258 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


the skyline and falling back again to the level 
sea. 

“ It is like your father’s Merman , Nathalie 
said, as she halted to stare out across the in- 
tervening stretch of blue water. “ Don’t you 
remember it ? 

‘ See the wild white horses play, 

Champ and chafe and toss in the spray.’ 

You can imagine them out there now, 
splashing up, with the foam running down 
their sides and tumbling back into the sea. I 
love this place, Kex. After Quantuck, Ver- 
mont will seem very tame.” 

“ Why don’t you stay here, then ? ” 

“ I’m going to, for two weeks more. Then 
we must be moving on.” 

“I don’t see why. The pater wants Mr. 
Arterburn to keep track of my work. It’s a 
beastly bore, this studying in summer ; but he 
says two hours a day won’t hurt me any. He 
was talking with your brother about it, this 
morning. If he stays, you will ; won’t you ? ” 
he asked persuasively. 

“I should think you would like me for a 
neighbor, after Tuesday’s performance. You 
don’t look at all pretty, Eex ; you suggest a 
horned pout. What will your cousin say ? ” 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


259 


“ Mac ? He will say that you don’t need any 
more tonics.” Kingsley laughed unfeelingly. 

“ All the more reason I should go away, be- 
fore I do any more mischief,” Nathalie re- 
sponded. “ If two weeks of Quantuck air can 
give me vigor to thump you like that, two 
months of it would suffice to make me slay the 
entire Barrett family and begin operations on 
the Farringtons. Do you know, it always 
seems to me as if Dr. Holden were Mrs. Far- 
rington’s son.” 

‘‘ Because he and Betty are such chums, 
most likely. They have always been together 
a great deal, since one summer when Mac was 
at the Lodge. Cousin Percival was here, that 
summer, too. I was too little to remember it ; 
but I have heard tales. That was the year 
the island came near burning up.” 

Nathalie nodded. In the two weeks she 
had been at Quantuck, she had become fully 
versed in the history and traditions of the 
island. 

“ Isn’t it very rough, to-day ? ” she asked, 
changing the subject sharply. 

“ A stiffish breeze, I suppose. It may be a 
bit choppy.” 

“ Is your cousin a good sailor ? ” 


260 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


Kingsley laughed at the question. 

“ When Mac was four years old, he took his 
first salting, tried to drown himself in the 
surf and was fished out more dead than alive. 
Since then, he’s been immune, goes out with 
Mr. Bond in the dory on days when it makes 
one fairly seasick to watch a boat. He can 
even bring a dory in through the surf in a 
storm,” 

“ Is there anything he can’t do ? ” she asked 
impetuously. 

Kingsley cocked the whites of his eyes at 
her, and shook his head. 

“ Go slow, Nathalie ! ” he warned her. 
“You don’t want to make me jealous, for I’m 
a terrible man when I’m stirred. I brought 
you down here to play with me, not to talk 
about Mac Holden.” 

“Wait till he comes, and I’ll talk to him,” 
she retorted. 

“ If you do. I’ll thump him, the way you 
did me, only I’ll take my brassey. There’s 
the mater now, coming down the board walk. 
Let’s hurry, or we shall be late for a swim. 
I’ll race you up to the cliff.” And together, 
like a pair of jolly children, they went scam- 
pering away through the heavy sand. 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


261 


“ Come down to the awning with me, 
chum,” Harry said, as they rose from the 
table, after lunch. 

‘‘ Oh, but I don’t want to,” she demurred. 

« Why riot ? I’m going, and it is so stupid 
to go alone.” 

‘‘ Sorry, Hal ; but I want to prink, to do 
honor to Hr. Holden.” 

“ Mao never notices. Besides, you can prink 
for dinner, if you are so anxious.” 

“He notices, fast enough. You wait and 
see. But what makes you go, Harry ? Stay 
till Hr. Holden comes.” 

“ Just the reason I’m going, and want you 
to go with me. We have to be here at dinner, 
Hathalie, so do let the family have Mac to 
themselves,' this afternoon.” 

Her face fell. 

“ And not see him till night ? ” 

Harry laughed outright at her disconsolate 
tone. 

“ Can’t you wait till then ? I shall begin to 
be jealous of Mac, if you stop to see him when 
I want you to amuse me. Oh, come on, chum I 
Mac will keep, and I may not.” 

Laughing, she rose from her seat on the 
edge of the veranda. 


262 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“ If you had made that plea before you came 
to Quantuck, Harry, it would have torn my 

feelings to shreds ; but now ” She paused, 

with an expressive glance up at his sunburned 
face. Then, as she met his eyes, she said im- 
pulsively, Oh, but it’s good to have you look 
so well ! When I think of last spring, it ” 

“ Don’t think of it, then,” he advised her. 

“ I can’t forget. Besides, you have to go to 
work again in two months. I wish we could 
play always, Harry.” 

“ It would grow horribly monotonous. Let’s 
make the most of the present good times, and 
come and play now. It is possible we may 
stay on here till the Barretts go back to the 
city in the fall. How do you like the pros- 
pect?” 

“Sufficient unto the day is the Quantuck 
thereof,” she paraphrased gayly. “ I could be 
content to stay here until the crack of doom.” 

Side by side, they scrambled down the steep 
path leading from Yalhalla to the foot of the 
cliff, and strolled along the board walk to the 
awnings. At that hour, only an occasional 
umbrella dotted the deserted beach; but the 
sea was at its most perfect coloring. Blue 
and green and red shadows chased one an- 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


263 


other across the silver waves, and the plung- 
ing foam over the rips was flecked with 
golden gleams. The breeze was sharp in their 
faces, and the breakers were curving high in 
air, then crashing heavily on the sand and 
sweeping up the beach in curling arabesques of 
white froth that sank away into the sand with 
a gurgle as of elfin laughter. 

Half an hour later, just as the whistle 
sounded from the in-coming train, Nathalie 
scrambled to her feet. 

“ Harry, that woman is no addition to the 
beauties of the landscape. As a nurse, she is 
admirable ; as a swimmer, she isn’t aesthetic. 
Let’s walk up to the lighthouse.” 

“ Unless you’d rather go to the links,” he 
suggested. 

She shuddered. 

“Ho; not until I can forget how Kex 
looked, while he lay on the ground. What if 
I had killed him, Harry ? ” 

“ Hobody would have blamed you, dear. It 
was Louis’s fault.” 

“ What is the difference whose fault it is ? ” 
she said hotly. “ It’s not the blame ; it is the 
very idea of losing Kex, of not having him 
within reach, and of feeling it was I who did 


264 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


it. I should think Mrs. Barrett would hate 
me, whenever she looks at that bump on his 
dear old pate. Harry, she is wonderfully good 
to us. I don’t see why.” 

“ And Mr. Myers, last fall, warned me that 
she was very haughty and overbearing,” he 
returned thoughtfully. “ I can’t understand 
it, chum. It will have to be enough for us 
that she is what she is, without trying to find 
a reason for it. The last year would have 
been a very different matter for the both of 
us, if it hadn’t been for Mrs. Gifford Barrett.” 

But even then the end of Mrs. Barrett’s 
kindliness was much more distant than either 
he or Nathalie supposed. The past was over 
and good; the future was still broadening 
before them. 

Up on the cliff at the lighthouse, Nathalie 
insisted upon it that she was too tired to walk 
another step. Accordingly, Harry left her 
there alone, while he followed the path on to- 
wards Quiddum Pond. Nathalie watched him 
until his figure vanished behind the brow of 
the hill, and her face was full of tender satis- 
faction. How broad-shouldered and alert he 
looked ! How strong he was, yet how gentle ! 
And, less than a year before, she had been 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


265 


filled with dread at the prospect of this ready- 
made brother! Now she wondered vaguely 
what life had been like, before she had him. 
It was hard to remember a mood so foreign to 
her present one. 

With her hands crossed lightly in her lap, 
her yellow hair blowing in the wind, and a 
dreamy content deepening the color of her 
eyes and playing around her mobile lips, she 
sat staring out across the sea to the dim shape 
of the lightship, far in the offing. So absorbed 
was she in her thoughts that she was deaf to a 
step in the grass behind her, and she started 
abruptly, when the well-known voice asked, — 

“ And how is my patient ? And why in the 
world did she run off, when she knew that the 
doctor was coming ? ” 

She looked up at the goodly figure by her 
side, and the color rushed into her face. 

“ Oh, Dr. Holden, it seemed as if you never 
would come ! ” she exclaimed joyously. 


266 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


CHAPTEE TWEKTY-OKE 
FTEE all, not even Quantuck can spoil 



Jr\ ISTew York for me,” I^athalie said 
contentedly, a week or two after they had re- 
turned to the city. 

“Quantuck with its winter population of 
thirteen souls and a dachshund wouldn’t be 
inspiringo But it is a gorgeous day. Come 
and play out of doors.” 

“ I ought to finish this skirt, and you know 
you ought to be studying. Harry says he 
really begins to have some hope of you,” she 
said saucily. 

“Poor soul! Let’s hope he won’t be dis- 
appointed. Perhaps I’d better take it easy, 
and not arouse false aspirations. Let your 
skirt go hang.” 

“ It isn’t ready yet.” 

He laughed at her quibble. 

“ All right, then throw it on the floor in the 
corner. Leave it, anyhow. If need be, I’ll 
take it home with me, and finish it, this even- 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


267 


ing. It’s a sin to stay inside a house, on such 
a yellow day as this.” 

“ Where do you want to go ? ” she asked, as 
she folded up her work. 

“ Anywhere. Anywhere but to your beastly 
Seward Park, that is. If I give you too much 
latitude, you’ll lug me off down there to play 
beanbag with the hoodle-ums. You did it 
once, and once is quite enough.” 

“You lack the spirit of brotherly love, 
Eex,” she admonished him gravely. 

“ Maybe so. Those fellows are only tenth 
cousins, anyway. Let’s go down to the park 
and prowl, till we grind out another inspira- 
tion to take us on to somewhere else.” 

“Wait till I get my hat. Fizzums, will you 
be a very good boy till sister comes back, very 
good indeed, and not trouble Cousin Eudora ? ” 

“ Ye-es. Where is Cousin Yedowa ? ” 

“ She is in her room, writing some letters.” 

“Yen I will go an’ wite some letters wiv 
her,” Fizzums suggested. 

Nathalie shook her head. She recalled the 
difficulty with which, even under the best of 
conditions, Eudora Evelina toiled through her 
correspondence. She also recalled the un- 
stable qualities of Fizzums’ tongue. 


268 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“ No, Fizzums, you must stay here. When 
sister comes back, if you’ve been a good boy 
and not made Cousin Eudora one bit of 
trouble, sister will take you out for a walk 
and get some roses into your cheeks.” 

“I don’t want any woses in mine cheeks; 
I’d rawer have woses in mine hands where I 
can smell of vem,” he objected. “ Some day, 
when I’m gwown up, Nathalie, will mine 
.cheeks be all spotty-bwown, like Mr. Wex 
Bawwett’s ? ” 

Nathalie fled from answering the question. 
Fizzums watched the door close behind them. 
Then he said composedly, — 

“Now I will wait till vey are all gone 
away, an’ ven I will go out to walk, mine 
own se’f. I fink I will take mine money-box 
wiv me; an’ ven I can buy some candy. 
Candy an’ money are ve two best fings, an’ I 
fink I will have some of bofe. Yen, when 
Cousin Yedowa wants to give me a s washy 
kiss, I can give her a candy instead.” He 
yawned. “I am talking a stwing, just like 
Peggy,” he continued. “ I fink I will wock 
minese’f in ve by-low chair for a while. 
Yen I will go out to walk.” 

The by-low chair proved potent in its influ- 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


269 


ences, and Fizzums made a swift trip to the Land 
of Nod. He returned, half an hour later, 
however, and, with a prodigious yawn, he 
sat up and looked about him with drowsy, 
heavy-lidded eyes. 

“ Oh, yes, I merember now,” he said 
slowly. “I was finking I would take mine 
money-box an’ go to buy Cousin Yedowa a 
candy. Well, I’m coming.” 

In his own room, he moved a chair to the 
side of the bureau and, clambering up, took 
down his tin bank. It rattled as he moved it, 
and, fearful lest Cousin Eudora should hear it 
and come to prevent his expedition, he mufiied 
it in the front of his little blouse. In the hall, 
he paused long enough to put on Ralph’s dis- 
carded straw hat and to possess himself of 
Harry’s umbrella. Then he turned back. 

“ Rwaps I might be cold wound mine neck,” 
he said. I will look for a tippet to tie wound 
me.” 

No tippet was forthcoming for a time. 
Then a stealthy search in Nathalie’s closet 
brought to light a sable fox collar, unpacked 
only that morning. Fizzums sniffed at it dis- 
dainfully. 

“It smells vewy stwange,” he said to him- 


270 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


self. “ Maybe in ve outdoorness it won’t be 
so bad. Now I fink Tin weady.” And with 
the hat on his head, the fluffy collar envelop- 
ing the lobes of his ears and trailing on the 
ground at his feet, one hand clutching the 
scarlet bank and the umbrella clasped in the 
other arm, Fizzums softly opened the door, 
crept down into the street and "set forth to 
view the town on his own account. 

The Providence which watches over little 
children apparently bestirred itself in behalf 
of Fizzums. The Boulevard was nearly de- 
serted, and he strolled along it in perfect 
safety, turned into One Hundred and Tenth 
Street and then, attracted by the trees within 
the gateway, he rambled on into the park. 
Occasionally his equipment caused him some 
little trouble. Once the umbrella fell out of 
his arms and rolled into a muddy gutter ; once 
he brought himself to a standstill by stepping 
on the fluffy tails which tipped his fur collar. 
Two of the tails gave way, in the course of 
his struggles; and Fizzums, glad to be free 
from the annoyance of them, left them lying 
in the middle of the sidewalk and passed on. 

Once inside the park, the broad green 
stretches of sunshiny lawn seemed to him an 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


271 


ideal spot for a walk, and, leaving the path, 
he struck out across the grass. 

‘‘ But it is vewy sunny here,” he observed ; 
“ an’ I might get sunstwuck an’ die. I fink I 
will open ve pawasol, an’ ven vere won’t be 
any danger.” 

There was another interval of struggle, 
while Fizzums laid down his bank on the 
grass and devoted himself to the patent snap 
on the band of the umbrella. Then the spring 
absorbed his attention ; but at last it yielded 
and the umbrella flew open. 

“ Yere, vat is a gweat deal better. Ye tip- 
pet is vewy warm, an’ ve pawasol will cool it 
off a gweat deal. Woo ! How ve wind blows ! 
It tips ve pawasol all over itse’f. Maybe it 
will cawwy me up to heaven, like ve fiewy 
chawiot.” 

A flock of sheep changed his train of thought, 
and he charged them at a gallop, waving his 
umbrella before him. Then he halted to view 
the stampede. 

“ Yat was vewy funny, vewy funny indeed. 
Yey must have been fwaid-cats, I should fink. 
Ye pawasol wouldn’t hurt vem any. How I 
will find ve candy store ; I am vewy hungwy. 
Oh, where did I do wiv mine money-box ? ” 


272 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


He searched his tiny pockets and felt in the 
slack of his blouse ; but in vain. 

“ I wants mine money-box ! Y ere was f wee, 
sevewal dollars in it, an’ I wants some candy. 
Oh, where did I do wiv mine money-box ! ” 

Dropping down his umbrella, he seated him- 
self on the grass and gave tongue to his woe. 
The tears fell fast, and he wiped them away 
with the denuded ends of his fur collar. Then 
he sneezed. The sneeze proved to be a di- 
version. 

“ Yis is a vewy funny tippet. It sneezes 
me, evewy time I smell it. Oh, look at ve 
pawasol ! It is just like a gweat big hop- 
stool.” He made a dive for it, just as the 
wind prepared to waft it away. Then, still 
sitting on the ground, he held it above his 
head and looked about him. “Yere aren’t 
any candy here, an’ I am hungwy. Yere are 
some wed bewwies, vough; maybe vey are 
good to eat.” He rose, umbrella and all, and 
trudged away towards a mountain ash whose 
branches drooped low over a dark green bench. 

Standing on the bench, it was easy for him 
to reach the berries. His hands were already 
full of the loaded twigs, when a blue-coated 
apparition swept down upon him. 


NATHALIE'S CBUAI 


273 


“ Stop breaking the tree, little boy ! ” 

Fizzums looked up hastily. 

“But I’m hungwy,” he replied. 

“I can’t help that. Besides, you mustn’t 
eat those.” 

“ Why not ? ” 

“ They’d kill you, sonny.” 

“ An’ ven would I be a nangel ? ” Fizzums 
inquired. 

The man surveyed him dubiously. 

“ I’ll bet you wouldn’t.” 

“Yen I won’t eat ’em,” Fizzums replied 
promptly. “ I’ve wanted to be a nangel ; but, 
if I can’t, vere’s no use goin’ dead.” 

“You’d much better go home,” the man 
suggested. 

“ But I don’t know where home is.” 

“ Are you lost ? ” 

“Yes; but I can find minese’f again, when 
I gets weady,” Fizzums replied calmly. 

“ What’s your name ? ” 

“ Fizzums.” 

“ Fizzums ? That’s not a name.” 

“ I don’t fink you’re vewy p’lite,” Fizzums 
rebuked him. “It is my ^name, too. Yey 
calls me Fizzums Attybun.” 

“ Where do you live ? ” 


274 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


Fizzums made a comprehensive gesture. 

“ Over vere, humbuck vose twees.’’ 

“ That’s not very definite. Who is your 
papa, little boy ? ” 

“ He’s a nangel.” 

“ A — what ? ” 

“ A nangel. He’s dead in ve gwound ; but 
his spiwit g wo wed up into a nangel. Yat’s 
what you will do, some time,” he added en- 
couragingly. 

The policeman manifested a stolid indilfer- 
ence to theological discussion. 

“ Where does your mother live ? ” he asked. 

“ In heaven,” Fizzums replied blandly. 

“ Oh, are they all dead ? Who keeps your 
house ? ” 

“Cousin Yedowa. Oh, vat makes me fink. 
Here’s some scassium bugs. Want some?” 
And Fizzums plunged his fist into his pocket 
and brought out a dozen brown stubs from 
which he had sucked all the sugar. Shaking 
an accurate half into the pink palm of his 
other hand, he held them out to the policeman. 
“Yere,”he said, with a curious imitation of 
Eudora Evelina’s tone; “you must eat vem 
vewy slow, so vey will last a long time, for 
vose are all I shall give you now.” 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


275 


The guardian of the peace took one and 
shut his teeth upon it. Then, pursing out his 
lips, he blew it afar into space. 

“ Thank you, I don’t know as I care for any 
more,” he said ungratefully. 

Kingsley and Nathalie, meanwhile, had 
failed to find any inspiration which should 
lead them cut of the park, and, for more than 
an hour, they had been loitering along the 
open paths to the north of the reservoir. 
Though November was still two weeks distant, 
a purple haze as of Indian summer lay over 
the broad stretches of lawn and woodland, and 
shaded into vivid gold where the sunbeams 
shot across it. Under the brow of the hill, no 
breeze reached them ; but through the still, 
chill air the golden birch leaves dropped si- 
lently one by one and lay in a pale yellow car- 
pet over the rank autumn grass. Around 
them, the noise of the city sank away in the 
distance; above their heads, a few belated 
robins were discussing their plans for the 
winter. 

“ I shall be seventeen, next week,” Nathalie 
said abruptly. “It seems queer to think of 
being so old. I keep wondering what I shall 
do, when I am grown up.” 


276 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“ What do you want to do ? ’’ 

“ Start a day nursery, or else be president 
of a college.’’ 

“ You are a modest soul. Why don’t you 
sigh to enter the navy, and to write poems on 
death ? ” 

“ They’re not in my line ; I like children 
and education. I’d like it, of course, if I 
could write things like your father’s sym- 
phonies. It must be great fun to beat time, 
and get lots of wreaths and applause. I 
wouldn’t mind doing the work Dr. Holden 
does, either.” 

“ The up-town, or the down ? ” 

“ The down-town, of course.' Anybody can 
cure clean rich people; it’s the dingy, half- 
starved baby that shows what a doctor is good 
for.” 

“ I was neither dingy nor starved, and it 
took three doctors to cure me.” 

“Well, I think perhaps you were worth the 
trouble. I do wish that scar on your forehead 
would grow up ; it always makes me feel like 
a Lady Macbeth, or a Borgia, or some- 
thing.” 

Kingsley laughed. 

“ J ust think ! A year ago, when I told the 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


277 


pater it would be Mr. Arterburn or nobody, 
I didn’t suppose you would be beating my 
brains out. Nathalie, you have been a trial 
to me.” 

“ Yes, I have made two attempts to kill you, 
and once, at least, I spoiled your devotions. 
Poor Nicodemus ! I wonder how he likes 
country life.” She was silent for a minute. 
‘‘Kex,” she added suddenly; ‘‘hold up your 
fingers. I am going to count up my blessings, 
the new ones. That will be a fit preparation 
for my birthday.” 

“ You’d much better make some good resolu- 
tions.” 

“ I don’t need to ; I’m good enough. Now 
count. Your mother, and her sewing les- 
sons Eeally, I have ever so many more 

gowns now, and they don’t cost half so much 
— and Quantuck, and Nicodemus, and Dr. 
Holden’s taking me to Seward Park, and ” 

“ There’s one of your hoodlums now,” 
Kingsley interrupted. “What’s more, in his 
own vernacular, de copper’s cotched him 
swipin’ berries, an’ is goin’ ter chase him out’n 
de park.” 

“At least, you know the accent of the East 
Side, Kex. Cunning monkey ! Where did he 


278 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


ever get his collar ? And that ruin of an um- 
brella ! I hope the ribs are strong, if he is 
going to use it as a bludgeon.” 

‘‘ You’d much better worry about the police- 
man’s ribs. The youngster was extravagant, 
when he was measured for his hat. Nathalie, 
you should train your kids to stay where they 
belong. Central Park is no place for such 
imps.” 

She mistook his jest for earnest. 

“It is for just such children that the parks 
are made. Even such smutty little beings as 
this have a right to come here. Poor baby ! 
It is probably his only chance to get a breath 
of fresh air.” 

“ He looks a good deal more as if fresh 
water would be an improvement,” Kingsley 
suggested. 

“ He is rather dirty,” Nathalie admitted. 
“ It is the real Hester Street tint ; I recognize 
it, even from this distance. How do you sup- 
pose he ever strayed up here ? I don’t see 
any mother.” 

They halted to watch the strife. The child 
was beating the policeman with a tattered 
ruin which once had been an umbrella ; while 
the man strove in vain to seize him, for the 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


279 


child was dodging about this way and that, 
and shrieking like a little fury. Suddenly he 
paused and glanced across the grass to the 
spot where ll^athalie and Kingsley were stand- 
ing. The umbrella waved again, this time in 
their direction, and a prolonged shout came to 
their ears. Nathalie started forward. 

“He knows me, Rex! It is one of our 
Seward Park babies. I was sure it was ; those 
children are unmistakable. Poor little thing 1 
He has lost his way, and those cruel police- 
men are always so hard on the tenement 
children. Come quick! We must help him 
out of his woes and take him home.” 

With Kingsley at her side, she turned and 
hurried across the grass in the direction of the 
renewed strife. Half-way to the child, she 
halted suddenly. 

“ Kingsley McAlister Barrett ! ” she gasped. 
“ IPs — it^s Fizzums ! ” 


280 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


CHAPTER TWEHTY-TWO 

« Babe!” 

“ When you accent the oh^ I always 
know it is good news. What is it now, 
Giff?” 

“ Glories galore. What do you say to 
spending the winter in Europe ? ” 

“I am your dutiful wife. Only give me 
time to pack my second-best frock, and I’ll 
follow you to Yictoria Hyanza, if necessary. 
What is the new glory ? ” 

“ I am asked to conduct my new symphony 
in Berlin ; the Three Choirs Festival is to sing 
The Merman^ next summer, and I’d like to 
sandwich in a little studying, between times.” 

“ You study I ” Mrs. Barrett’s accent was 
disdainful. 

“ Why not, if you please ? I trust I’m not 
too old to learn new tricks.” 

“ Ho ; but you are too famous. There’s no- 
body in America to compare with you ; they 
all say it.” 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


281 


“My adoring and adorable wife, put not 
your trust in the critic.” 

“ But I do, when he says nice things. If he 
didn’t, I would — smash him,” she concluded 
vindictively. 

“ And you will go over with me ? ” 

“I don’t see any help for it. You must go, 
and I’m not going to have you gallivanting 
off without me. But what about Bex ? ” 

“ Of course, I shall take him, too. A year 
abroad will develop him wonderfully.” 

“ Yes, only he is eighteen now, and he will 
be a patriarch, by the time he gets inside Yale. 
I should hate to have our latest-born alluded 
to as Pa Barrett, Giff.” 

“ This won’t make any difference. Arter- 
burn will have to go, too.” 

“ You extravagant fellow ! Who will pay 
the bills?” 

“ I’ll see to that. Don’t pull down the cor- 
ners of your mouth to that extent, for I was 
just going to suggest our taking Nathalie 
along with us. She can do lessons with Bex, 
and sew patchwork with you, and copy music 
for me in the intervals.” 

Mrs. Barrett reflected rapidly; then she 
nodded. 


282 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


“I approve, Giff. She is a good comrade 
for Kex, and I like her. It will make you 
rather an expensive caravan ; but, if you can 
manage the finances, I will see that Nathalie 
is clothed and chaperoned. I am the most 
pleased for Harry. It will keep him from 
working himself to death, as he did, last 
winter.” 

“What is that about Arterburn?” Dr. 
Holden asked, as he came into the room. 

“ Giff is invited to pluck some German 
laurels, and he is planning to take Harry over, 
as tutor for Eex, this winter.” 

“ What about Nathalie ? ” Dr. Holden in- 
quired. 

“ Giff says he is going to take her, too.” 

“ Then my blessing go with you ! It would 
do either one of them a world of good ; but it 
would be too bad to separate them.” 

“ If only Arterburn will go ! ” Mr. Barrett 
added doubtfully. 

“ Of course he will go.” 

“I’m not so sure of that. It means his 
dropping out of the race for university ad- 
vancement. He may think it’s not worth 
while to throw over a small permanent posi- 
tion for a larger temporary one.” 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


283 


Dr. Holden sat frowning, at the fire. 

“ That’s the danger, Uncle Giff. If he were 
free from domestic encumbrances and perfectly 
strong, I should advise him to stick where he 

is. As it is, though Wliy? confound it, the 

chance means everything to him ! He must 
go.” 

“ If ” Mrs. Barrett suggested. 

“Ho if about it. He shall go. I think I 
can promise you that. I’ve not much pull ; 
but I’ll tug hard at what I have. When do 
you want to sail ? ” 

“ The first of December.” 

“ For how long ? ” 

“ Ten months.” 

“ Ten months. Till October.” Mac pon- 
dered. “Well, I think I can make it safe for 
you to talk to Arterburn, in a few days. I 
am glad for his sake, and I am a good deal 
pleased for Hathalie, Aunt Babe. It is a 
golden chance for her, and she is a girl to 
make the most of it.” 

He rose and started to leave the room. At 
the door, he turned back. 

“ By the way, ask her first for herself, with- 
out telling her that Arterburn is in the 
scheme,” he suggested. 


284 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


It was less than a week afterwards that 
Nathalie and Harry were bidden to dine at 
the Barretts’. Such invitations were by no 
means uncommon ; and the brother and sister 
accepted this one, without in the least sus- 
pecting that the talk of the evening would 
make a radical change in their plans for the 
next ten months. Once inside the Barrett 
house, however, they suddenly became con- 
scious of a sort of mental thunder in the air. 
Mr. Barrett was unusually silent ; Mrs. Barrett 
was jerky in her conversation, as if she were 
with difficulty suppressing some subject which 
insisted upon utterance. Dr. Holden and 
Kingsley did their best ; but it was a stiff, un- 
comfortable meal, and, before the fish was 
eaten, Nathalie was casting about in her mind 
for an excuse to beat an early retreat. 

“ Arterburn, I am sorry ; but I shall have 
to increase your duties with Kex,” Mr. Barrett 
began abruptly, as soon as his wife had car- 
ried Nathalie off, after dinner. 

“What is the matter? Doesn’t he get on 
fast enough ? ” Harry asked uneasily. 

“Yes, but I am going to need a resident 
tutor for him. There is no use in beating 
about the bush. I have to sail for Germany, 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


285 


the first of December. Mrs. Barrett and Bex 
will go with me for the winter; and we 
thought it would be best for you to go with 
us, as Kex’s tutor, and take Nathalie along, 
too.” 

“ I — I — but ” Harry stammered, as the 

color died out of his face. 

“Now hold on, Hal! Don’t mix up things 
by talking too soon,” Dr. Holden interrupted. 
“Hear Uncle Giff through. Then you can 
have your say.” 

“ So you are mixed up in the scheme, too ? ” 
Harry asked. 

“Yes, to the extent of prescribing it for 
you. In fact, it is almost imperative. The 
change will put you on your feet again sooner 
than anything else can do, put you on them to 
stay there, I hope. If you take my advice, 
you send the children off with Eudora Evelina 
by the first train, and then pack your trunks 
with neatness and dispatch.” 

“It is this way, Arterburn,” Mr. Barrett 
broke in kindly; “if you go, you will have 
your same salary, with expenses added ; and 
you will have some chance to study, as we 
shall be in Berlin, most of the winter. I want 
to do some work there, myself. Nathalie, of 


286 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


course, will go as our guest. Her friendship is 
the best thing in the world for Kex ; it makes 
him contented, keeps him steady, and her 
downright ways are very wholesome for him. 
Of course, your university work is the great 
obstacle ; but Mac has heard it whispered in 
high places that, if you were to ask for leave 
of absence for ten months of study, it would 
be granted. We shall be home in time for 
Rex to enter Yale, next fall.” 

For a moment, the silence was unbroken. 
Then Harry turned to Mr. Barrett. 

‘‘ I wish I could thank Oh, hang it ! I 

can’t say anything worth while, Mr. Barrett ; 
but, some day, you’ll know.” But he took off 
his glasses and laid them on the table beside 
him, before he could see the genial, jovial face 
of his host. 

Mrs. Barrett looked up, as the three men 
entered the library. 

“ Then it is all right ? ” she asked quickly. 

“Right as a trivet,” her husband assured 
her. 

“I don’t know what a trivet is; but no 
matter, for you all look content. How, 
Hathalie Arterburn, I want you to listen 
to me.” 


NATHALIE'^S CHUM 


28T 


“ Don’t I always ? ” she inquired, laughing 
at the warning finger which Mrs. Barrett had 
raised. 

“Yes; hut this is an uncommonly critical 
matter. Do you want to go abroad ? ” 

“ Of course. Who doesn’t ? ” Nathalie an- 
swered, still laughing at the pompousness of 
Mrs. Barrett’s tone. 

“ Yery well, come along.” 

“ To-night ? ” the girl questioned merrily. 

“ No ; you will need a few hours for your 
packing. The first of December will be time 
enough.” 

All at once it dawned upon Nathalie that 
there was a real meaning underlying Mrs. 
Barrett’s bantering words. She turned and 
looked from her brother to Dr. Holden. They 
stared down at her with impenetrable faces, 
and she turned back to Mrs. Barrett once 
more. 

“ What do you mean ? ” she demanded 
abruptly, half dazed by the mystery surround- 
ing her, and uncertain whether to laugh again. 

Mrs. Barrett saw her nervousness. With a 
gentle, caressing touch, she laid her hand on 
Nathalie’s clasped fingers. 

“It is no joke, dear girl. Mr. Barrett is 


288 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


going to Europe for ten months, and will take 
Kex and me with him. We all of us want you 
to go with us as our guest, to keep Rex from 
getting homesick and to prevent his forgetting 
his American manners. We shall be in Ger- 
many a good deal of the time ; but of course 
we shall stop in Paris and London, and see 
Switzerland. It will only be for ten months, 
dear. Will you go ? ” 

Nathalie’s face was radiant, her cheeks 
scarlet, her eyes gleaming with some subtle 
inward fire. Then, all at once, the fire went 
out of her face and manner, and she shut her 
hands over a fold of her skirt. The pause was 
long enough for her to draw one slow, steady 
breath, then another. 

‘‘ There is nothing in the whole world that 
would be better,” she said then, as she touched 
Mrs. Barrett’s hand with fingers that, of a 
sudden, were like ice. “ I should be so happy 
with you, and over there. I have always 
wanted to go, more than I have wanted any- 
thing else. But, if you don’t mind Truly, 

I don’t mean to be rude, Mrs. Barrett ; — but — I 
think perhaps I’d rather stay with Harry.” 

Three weeks later, Nathalie stood in the 
stern of the Kaiserina^ watching the crowd on 


NATHALIE'S CHUM 


289 


the pier grow vague in the distance. Long 
after the other faces had blended into an un- 
distinguishable mass, she felt sure she could 
still detach one yellow head set on a pair of 
broad shoulders. At last, even that faded 
away, and she turned her eyes from the pier 
to the single heavy-headed rose in her hand. 
At her side, her brother watched her with a 
loving, curious scrutiny. 

“ Are you sorry to go, after all, chum ? ” he 
asked. 

She raised her eyes till they met his with 
perfect sincerity. 

“ jN'o, Harry ; I would go to the world’s end 
with you,” she said loyally. 


THE END 


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